Unintentional injuries leading cause of deaths among Calif. kids

Unintentional injuries were a leading cause of death for ages 1-24 overall in California from 2014-2016, reports Kidsdata.com.

The death of any young person is a tragedy, but deaths from unintentional injuries, or preventable injuries, such as motor vehicle accidents, drowning, and falls are particularly troubling.

For children ages 1-4, the most common cause of unintentional injury-related death is drowning; for 5- to 24-year-olds, the most common cause is motor vehicle accidents. Since at least 1996, unintentional injuries have been the leading cause of death for youth ages 15-19.

The data reveal that preventable deaths do not discriminate. Unintentional injuries is the leading cause of death across all racial/ethnic groups, with the exception of African American youth, for whom homicide was the leading cause of death.

Protecting children and youth from unintentional injuries requires both a local and system-level approach, from addressing risk factors, to promoting awareness.

Changes in public policies can help reduce risk factors associated with unintentional injuries such as implementing a graduated driver license program to age 21 (Assembly Bill 1267).