The Japanese Association of School Health

Research Paper

ISSN ONLINE : 1880-2400

[School Health Vol.9, 33-44, 2013]

Study on the Risk Factors of Injuries Resulting in Hospitalization in Primary School Students

Junko Shimomura*, Ichizo Morita**, Haruo Nakagaki**, Isao Ohsawa* and Yuzo Sato*

  • *Program of Health Science, Graduate School of Psychological and Physical Science, Aichi Gakuin University
  • 12 Araike, Iwasaki-cho, Nisshin, Aichi 470-0195, Japan
  • jshimomu@dpc.agu.ac.jp
  • **Department of Preventive Dentistry and Dental Public Health,
  • School of Dentistry, Aichi Gakuin University
  • 1-100 Kusumoto-cho, Chikusaku, Nagoya, Aichi 464-8650, Japan

[Received May 15, 2012 ; Accepted June 24, 2013]

Keywords:
Primary school students, Playground equipment, Hospitalization, Serious injuries, Safety measure

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Abstracts

Objective: To develop effective prevention measures against serious injuries in primary school
students, the involved factors of serious injuries inside school were surveyed.
Methods: Our study examined the data from primary schools of 7 prefectures in Japan. The
study period was one year, from April 2007 to March 2008, and the 70,701 cases of school
injuries which required medical treatment in medical institution were examined. The involved
factors that infl uence hospitalization were investigated by logistic regression analysis.
Results: 1) Among the total number of injuries (70,701), 882 (1.2%) cases required
hospitalization. 2) The injuries that needed hospitalization occurred the most frequently
during recess. 3) Among the 207 cases of hospitalization-required injuries that occurred when
the lower grade students were outside the school building in the school area during recess,
134cases (64.7%) happened while they were using playground equipment. The incidence of
hospitalization was signifi cantly higher (3.30 fold) than when no playground equipment was
in use.
Conclusion: The results of this study indicate the importance to implement safety measures
related with the use of playground equipment during recess time to prevent serious injuries
of students, especially when they are not under the supervision of teachers. Furthermore, it
is necessary to guide the lower grade students concerning the risk of fall from playground
equipment such as monkey bar and climber.

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