ABSTRACT
Compared with other age groups, teenagers have the lowest rate of safety belt use. We sought to determine whether an ongoing, student-led initiative would be effective in increasing safety belt use among high school students compared with another school in which the intervention did not take place. At the intervention school, there was a statistically significant increase of 15% in observed safety belt use and evidence of increased knowledge regarding proper safety belt use. High schools can be effective in changing the traffic safety behaviors of its students.
Subject(s)
Adolescent Behavior , Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice , School Health Services/organization & administration , Seat Belts/statistics & numerical data , Students/statistics & numerical data , Accidents, Traffic , Adolescent , Female , Humans , Male , Peer Group , Program EvaluationABSTRACT
Running for exercise is a popular way to motivate children to be physically active. Running-related injuries are well studied in adults but little information exists for children and adolescents. Through use of the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System database, cases of running-related injuries were selected by using activity codes for exercise (which included running and jogging). Sample weights were used to calculate national estimates. An estimated 225 344 children and adolescents 6 to 18 years old were treated in US emergency departments for running-related injuries. The annual number of cases increased by 34.0% over the study period. One third of the injuries involved a running-related fall and more than one half of the injuries occurred at school. The majority of injuries occurred to the lower extremities and resulted in a sprain or strain. These findings emphasize the need for scientific evidence-based guidelines for pediatric running. The high proportion of running-related falls warrants further research.
