Injuries among children attributed to violence and social funding: a 10-year observational study
Background Mechanisms and patterns of injury in children are changing, with violent mechanisms becoming more prevalent over time. Government funding of services for children and young people has reduced nationally over the last decade. We aimed to investigate the trends in admissions of injured chil...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMJ Publishing Group
2023-12-01
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| Series: | BMJ Paediatrics Open |
| Online Access: | https://bmjpaedsopen.bmj.com/content/7/1/e001700.full |
| _version_ | 1797368081044996096 |
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| author | Adam Brooks Jonathan Bishop John-Joe Reilly Louise Morris Samuel Kitchen Lauren Blackburn |
| author_facet | Adam Brooks Jonathan Bishop John-Joe Reilly Louise Morris Samuel Kitchen Lauren Blackburn |
| author_sort | Adam Brooks |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background Mechanisms and patterns of injury in children are changing, with violent mechanisms becoming more prevalent over time. Government funding of services for children and young people has reduced nationally over the last decade. We aimed to investigate the trends in admissions of injured children to a Major Trauma Centre (MTC) and examine the relationship between injuries sustained by violent mechanisms and local authority funding of children and youth services within the same catchment area.Methods A 10-year observational study included all patients aged<18 years treated at a regional MTC between April 2012 and April 2022. Number of admissions with violent trauma, mechanism of injury, requirement for operative intervention and mortality were compared with published annual local authority expenditure reports.Results 1126 children were included; 71.3% were boys, with median age 11 years (IQR 3–16). There were 154/1126 (14%) children who were victims of violent trauma; they were more likely to be boys than children injured by non-violent mechanisms (84% vs 69%). The proportion of injuries attributed to violence increased over the study period at the same time as reductions in local authority funding of services for the early years, families and youth services. However, there were insufficient data to formally assess the interdependency between these factors.Conclusions The proportion of injuries attributed to violence has increased over time, and government spending on specific children and young people’s services has decreased over the same time period. Further work is needed to examine the interdependency between spending and violent injuries in children, and public health interventions to target violence-related injuries should take into account youth service funding. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T17:27:23Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1bfbca3a3aac4b9a851e9e69d608d740 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2399-9772 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T17:27:23Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMJ Paediatrics Open |
| spelling | doaj.art-1bfbca3a3aac4b9a851e9e69d608d7402024-01-02T18:20:06ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Paediatrics Open2399-97722023-12-017110.1136/bmjpo-2022-001700Injuries among children attributed to violence and social funding: a 10-year observational studyAdam Brooks0Jonathan Bishop1John-Joe Reilly2Louise Morris3Samuel Kitchen4Lauren Blackburn5East Midlands Major Trauma Centre, Queen`s Medical Centre, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham, UK4 National Institute for Health Research Surgical Reconstruction and Microbiology Centre, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, UKEast Midlands Major Trauma Centre, Queen`s Medical Centre, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham, UKEast Midlands Major Trauma Centre, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham, UKEast Midlands Major Trauma Centre, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham, UKEast Midlands Major Trauma Centre, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham, UKBackground Mechanisms and patterns of injury in children are changing, with violent mechanisms becoming more prevalent over time. Government funding of services for children and young people has reduced nationally over the last decade. We aimed to investigate the trends in admissions of injured children to a Major Trauma Centre (MTC) and examine the relationship between injuries sustained by violent mechanisms and local authority funding of children and youth services within the same catchment area.Methods A 10-year observational study included all patients aged<18 years treated at a regional MTC between April 2012 and April 2022. Number of admissions with violent trauma, mechanism of injury, requirement for operative intervention and mortality were compared with published annual local authority expenditure reports.Results 1126 children were included; 71.3% were boys, with median age 11 years (IQR 3–16). There were 154/1126 (14%) children who were victims of violent trauma; they were more likely to be boys than children injured by non-violent mechanisms (84% vs 69%). The proportion of injuries attributed to violence increased over the study period at the same time as reductions in local authority funding of services for the early years, families and youth services. However, there were insufficient data to formally assess the interdependency between these factors.Conclusions The proportion of injuries attributed to violence has increased over time, and government spending on specific children and young people’s services has decreased over the same time period. Further work is needed to examine the interdependency between spending and violent injuries in children, and public health interventions to target violence-related injuries should take into account youth service funding.https://bmjpaedsopen.bmj.com/content/7/1/e001700.full |
| spellingShingle | Adam Brooks Jonathan Bishop John-Joe Reilly Louise Morris Samuel Kitchen Lauren Blackburn Injuries among children attributed to violence and social funding: a 10-year observational study BMJ Paediatrics Open |
| title | Injuries among children attributed to violence and social funding: a 10-year observational study |
| title_full | Injuries among children attributed to violence and social funding: a 10-year observational study |
| title_fullStr | Injuries among children attributed to violence and social funding: a 10-year observational study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Injuries among children attributed to violence and social funding: a 10-year observational study |
| title_short | Injuries among children attributed to violence and social funding: a 10-year observational study |
| title_sort | injuries among children attributed to violence and social funding a 10 year observational study |
| url | https://bmjpaedsopen.bmj.com/content/7/1/e001700.full |
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