Medically Attended Injuries Among Young Children: Observations in a Suburban Area

Pediatricians have manifested increasing concern with the problem of childhood accidents, yet relatively little information is available on the nature and extent of nonfatal accidental injuries in childhood which come to the attention of physicians practicing in suburban communities. The present paper provides information on such accidents occurring to children under 7 years of age in a new, fairly homogenous, suburban area. The information was obtained in the course of a four-year control study to test the effect of intensive community educational efforts on the incidence of accidental injury among preschool children. The Child Injury Prevention Project is being conducted in Rockland County, located on the west bank of the Hudson River about 30 miles north of New York City. Rockland County embodies many of the changes taking place in large metropolitan areas. In a relatively short time, it has changed from a sedate area of large estates and heavily