Health 6.01: Injuries and Taking Risks, Part 1

Drowning

*Drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional death for teens. *Among young males, alcohol is a major factor in 50 percent of drownings

Discharge of Firearms

*A recent study found that 43 percent of households in the United States with children and teens had at least one gun. *More than 1 in 5 gun owners with children under 18 said that they stored their weapons loaded. One in 11 said that their weapons were stored loaded and unlocked. *Guns make conflicts worse and increase the chances that you will be seriously harmed. If you carry a gun, you're twice as likely to become the victim of gun violence. *The risk of injuries and deaths from guns can be reduced by the use of gun safes and trigger locks, separate storage of guns and ammunition, reporting lost and stolen weapons, and gun training for gun owners.

Fires and Burns

*Approximately 25,000 Americans are injured in fires each year and more than 4000 die. *Electrocutions account for a greater proportion of work-related injury deaths in adolescents than in adults. *Smoking is the leading cause of home fire deaths. Cooking is the primary cause of residential fires. *Fireworks-related injuries most frequently involve hands and fingers and the head and face. More than half of the injuries are burns. *Burn injuries are common among teen employees in restaurants. Teens who work as fry cooks are at special risk for burn injuries. Factors such as inexperience and the pressure to maintain productivity during busy periods can lead to potential accidents.

Poisoning

*Carbon monoxide (CO) results in more fatal unintentional poisonings in the United States than any other agent; the highest number of CO poisons occur during the winter months. *Adolescents are also at risk for poisonings, both intentional and unintentional. About half of all poisonings among teens are classified as suicide attempts. *Among teenagers, aspirin, tranquilizers, sedatives, and antidepressants are the most common substances ingested. Antidepressants and stimulants are the most common substances ingested in fatal poisoning incidents. *Alcohol poisoning is a great danger to teens.

You may be surprised to find out that they include the following:

*Drowning *Discharge of firearms *All-terrain vehicles (ATVs) *Falls *Fire and burns *Poisoning *Sports injuries

Sports Injuries

*Playing sports like basketball, baseball, football, soccer, hockey, and tennis can cause injuries. Leisure activities like inline skating, skateboarding, skiing, and snowboarding also have high rates of injuries for teens. Water activities like boating, swimming, surfing, parasailing, skiing, and other personal watercraft activities can lead to injuries other than drowning. *Many sports injuries result from poor training practices, improper equipment, lack of conditioning, or insufficient warm-ups and stretching. *Playing football results in approximately 300,000 concussions (jarring injuries to the brain from a blow to the head) per year. *Repeated concussions over a long period of time create the possibility for long-term or permanent brain injury. Professional boxers, for example, have a high rate of dementia (a mental disease in which the person loses memory and the ability to think clearly) and Parkinson's disease (a chronic progressive disease of the nervous system).

Teens take driving risks by doing the following:

*Speeding *Making illegal turns *Driving on the wrong side of the road *Running red lights

All-Terrain Vehicles

*The percentage of teens who wear helmets is close to zero. *Most injuries associated with all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) occur when the driver loses control, the vehicle rolls over, and the driver or passenger is thrown off or the ATV collides with a fixed object. *Risk factors for injuries associated with ATVs include rider inexperience, alcohol intoxication, excessive speed, and lack of helmet use. *Head injuries account for most ATV deaths, which usually occur instantly.

Unintentional Injuries: The Facts

*Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death for teens. *Each year, more than 90,000 people die in the United States as a result of unintentional injuries. *More than 72,000 people are disabled in the United States by injuries every year. *During an average year, unintentional injuries account for nearly 31 million emergency room visits.

Falls

*Workplace falls frequently result in fatalities and injuries among workers of all ages, including teens. *Teens working in construction have more than seven times the risk for fatal injury as youth in other industries.

3. Alcohol is involved in what percentage of teen driver fatalities?

35%

4. Unintentional injuries account for what percentage of teen deaths annually?

45%

Unintentional Injuries

An unintentional injury is one that no one meant to have happen. You may receive unintentional injuries from crashes involving a motor vehicle, bicycle, skateboard, snowboard, or boat or other leisure vehicle. You also may be unintentionally injured while working, hunting, swimming, or even playing sports.

Other types of intentional teen violence include the following:

Bullying Physical fighting Sexual assault Dating violence

Injury Prevention and Safety

Did you know that accidents (unintentional injuries) are the number one cause of death for teens? Think of all the ways you can injure yourself: participating in sports, being in a car crash, falling, having a firearms accident, getting burned, drowning. And then there are intentional injuries that you might get from fighting or self-harm.

When do you think a teen is most likely to be fatally injured in a motor vehicle crash?

Friday — Sunday

No Such Things as Accidents?

If you spill a drink or trip over something, do you say, "Uh-oh, I had an accident"? When you read in the newspaper about an incident involving an automobile, why is it that it is generally called a "car accident" rather than a "car crash"? An accident is defined as an unforeseen and unplanned event or circumstance; an unfortunate event resulting from carelessness or ignorance.

Topics You Will Cover

Injuries and taking risks Staying safe Preventing violence Using first aid

Categorizing Injuries

Injuries can be placed into categories: unintentional injuries, intentional injuries, preventable injuries, and unpreventable injuries. Most unintentional and intentional injuries are preventable. Some intentional or unintentional injuries are temporary and involve pain and a healing process. For example, broken bones, lacerations, or bruises can result from unintentional or intentional injuries. Both intentional and unintentional injuries, however, can result in permanent disability or death.

Injury Prevention

Injury prevention science has shown that injuries are not random. Most are predictable and preventable. You can learn to predict these unfortunate events and take steps to prevent them.

Intentional Injuries

Intentional injuries are those that someone meant to have happen. Intentional injuries may be the result of violence or self-destructive behavior (self-harm). Suicide is an example of self-directed intentional violence. Other examples include cutting, pulling hair out, and head banging. Intentional violence directed toward others can result in homicides, gang fights, dating violence, and fights. Most intentional injuries also can be prevented. Can you give some examples of how suicide, homicide, gang fights, and dating violence could be prevented?

2. Most teens do not like and do not wear bike helmets:

True

5. In the U.S., a teen dies every hour from an injury:

True

Intentional and Preventable?

Most intentional injuries are the result of violence. Violence can be directed toward others or toward oneself, as in suicide. Intentional injuries that result in death are from violent assault, most often with a gun. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, homicide is the second leading cause of death for teens.

Even though injuries from many of these pursuits could have been avoided, your purpose or intent was not to get injured.

Most unintentional injuries can be prevented by using common sense and good judgment, knowing and following laws and safety procedures, and wearing protective gear when it is needed. You saw in previous lessons how drinking alcohol impairs judgment. When alcohol and drugs are mixed with any of the activities listed above, injury and death may be the result.

1. What type of unintentional injury is the most frequent cause of death among teens?

Motor vehicle crashes

Can you think of some unintentional injuries that are not preventable? How about being buried in a mudslide?

Or caught in a forest fire? Even these incidents might be preventable. You can see that it's difficult to find good examples of unpreventable injuries.

Unintentional Injuries: Teen Risks

Other than motor vehicle injuries, what incidents or factors do you guess would result in frequent unintentional injury or death for teens? And which of these incidents or factors might involve unhealthy risk-taking behavior?

A Formula for Disaster

Risky Behavior + Unintentional Injury = Death

Teens and Dangerous Driving

Teens are also more likely than older drivers to disregard dangerous situations, and they have less experience coping with such situations.

Per mile driven, teen drivers are four times more likely to crash than older drivers are. Why are teens more likely to crash?

Teens take more risks than older drivers do. Your peers are far less likely to use seat belts than any other age group and are more likely to drive or ride with someone who is under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Alcohol is involved in nearly 35 percent of teen-driver fatalities. Teens also don't have the experience of more mature drivers.

Taking risks is a major factor in unintentional injuries that end in death.

Unintentional injuries account for almost half (45 percent) of all deaths among people aged 15 to 24. Of those deaths, 75 percent are due to motor vehicle injuries. The risk of motor vehicle crashes is higher among teens than among any other age group.

How many of these injuries can be prevented? Are they caused by taking unhealthy risks? Are they results of violent acts? How many result in death?

This unit will explore a variety of intentional and unintentional injuries and their various outcomes. Most injuries can be prevented; you'll learn some prevention techniques and strategies for reducing your risk of being injured, and you'll practice first-aid skills for emergencies.

The word accident has come under scrutiny by many public health officials lately, and they advise against using it.

Why do you think that might be? Well, by using the term accident, one is implying that an event is random and "just happened," that it is out of anyone's control and could not have been predicted. But health officials know that many "accidents" could indeed have been prevented.

Injury is probably the most underrecognized major public health problem facing the nation today.

—National Academy of Sciences