CHILDHOOD INJURY Unintentional ("accidental") injuries are the greatest threat to the life and health of children. Each year, one child in four (approximately 14 million) will be hurt seriously enough to require medical attention. Every year, more than 6,000 children, 14 years old and under, are killed and 120,000 are permanently disabled by unintentional injury. Deaths
	Each year, more children ages 1-14 die from unintentional injuries than from all childhood diseases combined.
	Suffocation is the leading cause of unintentional injury death for children under the age of 1, followed by motor vehicle occupant injuries, choking, drownings and fires and burns.
	Drowning is the number one cause of unintentional injury death for 1-4 year-olds, followed by motor vehicle occupant injuries, fires and burns, pedestrian injuries and choking.
	For 5-9 year-old children, motor vehicle occupant injuries are the leading cause of unintentional injury death, followed by pedestrian injuries, drownings, fires and burns and bicycle injuries.
	For children 10-14, motor vehicle occupant injuries are the main cause of unintentional injury-related fatalities, followed by pedestrian injuries, drownings, bicycle injuries and fires and burns.
Childhood Injuries
	For every child who dies from a preventable injury, 42 others are hospitalized and 1,120 receive treatment in hospital emergency rooms.
Risk Factors
	Research has consistently shown that injuries occur at a higher rate among low-income children.
	There are racial disparities in unintentional injury rates which appear to be most highly correlated with living in poverty.
	Native American children ages 1-14 have the highest death rate from unintentional injuries, twice the rate of white children.
	African-American children ages 1-14 have the second highest death rate from unintentional injuries.
Health Care Costs and Savings
	Every dollar spent on a bike helmet saves this country $30 in direct and indirect health care costs and costs to society.
	Every dollar spent on a child safety seat saves $32 in direct and indirect health care costs and costs to society.
	One dollar invested in a poison control center saves at least $7 in medical costs.
	Every dollar spent on a smoke alarm saves $21 in direct medical costs and in total costs to society.

Acknowledgments:
National SAFE KIDS Campaign