Accident mortality in children, adolescents and young adults

The purpose of this article is to focus on mortality statistics and their use in order to examine the nature and size of the problem posed by accidents in children, adolescents and young adults and how this is changing over time. A basic aim here is to highlight the difference found between countries at different stages of development in order to stress how the priorities for action aimed at reducing the social and economic costs of accidents and their consequences vary from place to place. A major focus of the analysis is on exploring the differences between the different age groups considered and also between the sexes; this sort of analysis will help to identify priority target groups for peventive action. The article is present in two parts, the first deals with the current situation and the second with past trends and possible future developments. The review of the current situation first of all examines the importance of accidents as a cause of mortality in children, adolescents and young adults; this is examined in a variety of ways: an analysis of the five leading causes of death in these age groups; an examination of the percentage of deaths that are due to accidents and, finally, using as an indicator the potential years of life lost due to accidents. The current situation is then examined in terms of the range of variation in total accident mortality across countries for the different age and sex groups and by cause of accident across broad groups of countries for the different age and sex groups. The analysis of trends and possible future developments in accident mortality first of all examines changes in the importance of accidents as a cause of death and looks at the trends in total accident mortality by country. Trends by cause of accident and broad groups of countries are then examined. Examples are given of the detailed analysis that is possible in individual countries using statistical models and of how these might be extrapolated to give illustrative projections for the future.