Epidemiological investigation on road traffic injuries of middle school students in Beijing

Objective The present study was designed to gain insight into the characteristics of road traffic injuries of middle school students for further prevention and control of road traffic injuries among young people. Methods Three regions that represented the characteristics of city, inner suburb and outer county areas respectively were chosen, while two high schools and two junior high schools were selected in each region for investigation. Finally, two classes of students at the first and second year in the junior high schools and two classes of students at the first and second year in the high schools were investigated by using cluster sampling. Results The proportion of road traffic accidents of middle school students in Beijing that occurred over the past year reached 14.0%. Boys' accidental incidence reached 16.5% and girls' 11.5%. There was significant difference( 2=59.808, P0.01) between the incidence of boys and girls. The incidence of middle school students was high than school students. The accidents had shown an obvious city-center inclination( 2=158.282, P0.01). Bicycle accidents accounted for the highest percentage among all the accidents, reaching 19.3%. Over the past year, the proportion of injuries of middle school students that were caused by road traffic accidents was 37.0%, with no significant difference between girls and boys and transporting methods. However, the higher the grade and farther from the city center, the larger the proportion of road traffic injuries occur. Conclusion Road traffic accidents and road traffic injuries have become a major problem affecting the health and safety of middle school students in Beijing. Positive measures are highly required for prevention and to reduce the incidence of youth road traffic accidents and traffic injuries.