Injury prevention : journal of the International Society for Child and Adolescent Injury Prevention
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Head injuries related to bicycle use are common and can be serious. They can be prevented or reduced in severity with helmet use; however, education has resulted in modest helmet use in most developed countries. Helmet legislation has been proposed as a method to increase helmet wearing; while this social intervention is thought to be effective, no systematic review has been performed. ⋯ Legislation increased helmet use among cyclists, particularly younger age groups and those with low pre-intervention helmet wearing proportions. These results support legislative interventions in populations without helmet legislation.
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To define health outcomes of whiplash associated disorders (WAD) at three months, six months, and two years after injury and to examine predictors of these outcomes. ⋯ Whiplash injury had a large effect on the health of this Australian cohort of whiplash sufferers, with only 50% of the cohort recovered at two years. Physical measures of health appear to improve over time, whereas mental measures of health did not. Despite this, this cohort is largely able to participate in activities and work at two years. Prevention of chronic disability may lie with concentration of resources to those who score highly on the FRI at baseline. In addition, chronic psychological ill health may be prevented by directing treatment to those with poor scores on sensitive measures of psychological ill health at baseline.
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To test the observation that the incidence of trampoline related pediatric fractures is increasing-both nationally and in a large district general hospital. ⋯ The incidence of injuries is increasing. There are lessons to be learnt from existing work from countries where trampoline prevalence has been greater for longer. The authors recommend various safety measures that may reduce children's injuries.
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Across the US, firearms are used in approximately 60% of all suicide deaths. Little research has assessed the role and determinants of firearms in suicide in major urban areas. ⋯ The proportion of suicides caused by firearms in NYC is low compared to other parts of the US; differential access to means of committing suicide and the differential importance of firearms in different racial and ethnic groups may contribute to this observation. Innovative, local population based interventions that target non-firearm related suicide may contribute to lower suicide mortality overall in urban areas.