Physical Wellness

Most Common Injuries Seen in Children of Teen Parents Identified

By Christine Hsu | Update Date: Nov 07, 2013 03:20 PM EST

Falls and ingested objects are the most common injuries suffered by children of teen parents, according to a new study.

Previous studies revealed that children of teen parents are more likely to be injured, both accidentally and intentionally. This is probably because many of these teenage parents are poor, uneducated and lack parental safety and supervision skills.

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center and Children's Medical Center wanted to analyze the medical records of children of teenage parents seen in the emergency department from 2009 to 2011.

The study involved 764 patients under the age of 7 years old. The findings revealed that falls and ingested objects were the most common mechanisms of injury and bruising and skin marks and fractures were the most common injuries sustained.

Researchers found that the number of dislocations increased from 4 percent to 7.7 percent during the study period. Head injuries also increased from less than 1 percent to 5.6 percent.

While 93 percent of all injuries looked at in the study were unintentional or likely unintentional, intentional cases had higher percentages of admissions, fatalities, head traumas and multiple injuries.

The study showed that 87 percent of the children were seen in the emergency department and 77 percent were evaluated and sent home.

Despite the reported increased risk for intentional injury, child abuse, and general medical problems in children of teenage parents, the latest study revealed that the majority of children were treated for unintentional injuries.

"Injury prevention efforts for teenage parents should be devoted to preventing falls and foreign body ingestions," lead researcher Brian D. Robertson said in a news release.

Researchers recommend that parenting programs should help teenage parents improve home safety and improve parental supervision skills.

The findings are published in The Journal of Pediatrics.

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