Seating position and patterns of severely injured body parts among child passengers in motor vehicle crashes: Japan as a distinct case

摘要

This study describes injury patterns and outcomes related to the seating position of child passengers involved in motor vehicle crashes in Japan. Using data obtained from a national trauma registry database, we compared the occurrence of injuries by body parts, length of hospital stay and in-hospital deaths between front-seating and rear-seating among children. We analysed 166 children aged 0-5years and 205 children aged 6-12years. No significant differences were observed between front- and rear-seating for injured body parts, length of hospital stay or in-hospital deaths in the 0-5-year-old victims. Among those aged 6-12years, rear-seating was associated with a higher incidence of head and chest injuries but the length of stay or in-hospital deaths did not differ. These findings contrast those of previous studies, which found that rear-seating reduces injury risk, possibly attributed to low age-appropriate restraint use among school-aged children in Japan. Highlights This study describes the patterns of injuries sustained to different body parts based on the seating position of children who were passengers in motor vehicle crashes.Among children aged 0-5years, injury patterns did not differ significantly between front- and rear-seating.Among children aged 6-12years, seating at the rear of the vehicle was associated with a higher incidence of head and chest injuries.Compared to our findings, previous studies have found different injury patterns, which may be attributable to low seatbelt use among school-aged children in Japan.