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Risk Factors for Unintentional Injuries
What is a risk factor?
A “risk factor” is a characteristic
of a person or group of people – such as age,
income, level of education, ethnicity, where someone
lives, genetic disposition, and so forth – that creates
a likelihood or greater possibility that a person or
group of people will experience a negative effect of
something. When we say, for example, that a certain people
are “at risk” for an illness, it
means that there is a common characteristic that people
in the group share that relates to that illness. For
example:
- Children living in polluted environments are at
greater risk of developing asthma than children living
in a clean environment;
- People who do not use seat belts are at greater
risk of being injured in a car accident.
- Poor and minority children are at greater risk of
not having health insurance.
For an in-depth discussion of risk as it relates to
health, see: Lu Ann Aday, 1993. At Risk in America:
the Health and Health Care Needs of Vulnerable Populations
in the United States. Jossey-Bass, San
Francisco.
General risk factors for child and youth injury
(See Injuries in the US or Injuries in the World):
- Living in a developing country (e.g. Africa, Southeast
Asia, Latin America)
- The poorest children are at almost twice the risk (87%)
of dying from injuries as the wealthiest children
- Children who are American Indian, Native Alaskan,
African American and/or Hispanic. (These rates are
not racially related, but rather are impacted by socioeconomic
status.)
- Neighborhood factors may also play a role in injury
risk. Simply living in a deprived
neighborhood
increases a child’s risk of injury, regardless
of family circumstances.
- Adolescents aged 15-19
- Male children and youth
Motor Vehicle Injury
- Teen drivers, and in particular male
teen drivers
- Motor vehicle death: children (<14)
- Children are at increased risk for pedestrian injuries
Burns and Scalds
- Death from fire:
- Children aged 5 and under
- Living in a rural community
- Households without working smoke alarms
- Time of year: greater in winter months
Drowning
- Residential swimming pools are the most common location
of drowning and near-drowning;
- African American children are more likely to drown
that white children.
Falls
- Children under age five
- Children of different ages are at risk for different
types of falls – for example, injuries for infants
are more likely to involve furniture, while older children
are more likely to have injuries on the playground.
- Boys are twice as likely as girls to die from fall-related
injuries.
- Low-income children, mostly because they are more
likely to live in multiple-story housing units, which
puts them at greater risk for falls and other injuries.
Poisoning
- Children, especially those under age 6
- Adolescents
- Male children are more likely than females to be
poisoned.
- African American children aged 5 and under have
a poisoning death rate approximately twice that of
white children.
- Time of day: late afternoon or evening
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Adolescent
& Child Targets for Health Foundation, Inc. 
