Pediatric Health Trends Ohio First Responders Should Know

First responders are the first healthcare professionals to arrive on the scene of an emergency situation. It is their responsibility to react quickly and provide the most efficient care to keep victims alive and transport them to a healthcare facility. In order to be better prepared to respond to emergency events, here are five pediatric health trends Ohio first responders should know about.

Medical-related complications account for over 70 percent of childhood deaths.

According to a 2010 annual report from the Ohio Department of Public Health, nearly 72 percent of all childhood deaths in 2010 were due to medical causes. The most prevalent medical-related causes of death were:

Congenital anomalies
Infections
Prematurity

External injuries are prevalent among children and adolescents.

Approximately 23 percent of all childhood and adolescent deaths in Ohio in 2010 were caused by external injuries. Unintentional falls were the most prevalent cause of non-fatal external injuries. Car accidents were the number one external-injury-related cause of death among adolescents. Additionally, car accidents were the number two killer among children.

Asthma accounts for a significant amount of emergency room visits among adolescents.

According to statistics from the Ohio Department of Public Health, asthma attacks are one of the top reasons for adolescent emergency room visits. In 2010, asthma ranked as the second most prevalent reason for ER visits, beat out only by violence-related injuries.

According to pediatric health trends, OH is experiencing a rise in asphyxia cases.

Data from the Ohio Department of Public Health has shown that there has been a rise in cases of asphyxia in children and adolescents – which includes cases of suffocation, strangulation and choking. 59 percent of deaths caused by asphyxia were children under the age of 1 (usually occurring in sleep environments), while 40 percent of deaths were children between the ages of 10 and 17. 2010 was the first year in which more children died of asphyxia than in car accidents.

Sleep-related deaths are prevalent among infants.

As shown in the Ohio Department of Public Health’s annual report on pediatric health trends, Ohio experienced a significant number of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and other sleep-related deaths among infants in 2010; one in three infant deaths each week were sleep-related. Additionally, the report stated that if non-SIDS sleep-related infant deaths were prevented, the infant mortality rate in Ohio would have been 6.1 deaths per 1,000 live births, as compared to the actual rate of 7.7.

Want more information about pediatric health trends?

Ohio pediatric health trends aren’t the only statistics featured by Health Ed Solutions. The certification provider recently profiled another state’s pediatric health trends as well. Learn more about childhood obesity – Texas.

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