Universal Journal of Public Health Vol. 2(3), pp. 97 - 109
DOI: 10.13189/ujph.2014.020303
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Prevalence, Patterns and Associated Factors of Injuries in School-aged Cameroonian Children


Christelle Senterre 1,*, Alain Levêque 1, Michèle Dramaix 1, Danielle Piette 2
1 Research Centre of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Clinical Research, School of Public Health, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
2 Research Centre of Social Approaches to Health, School of Public Health, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium

ABSTRACT

Few studies have addressed the patterns of injuries in Africa, and most of them were based on hospital data. The objectives of this study were to describe, on the basis of the "First Survey Health Young People" performed in 2008 in Cameroon, the prevalence and the patterns of injuries and to investigate the relationship between these injuries and some health behaviors. The dataset included 47327 pupils, aged 9 to 25 years, with a sex-ratio close to one. The prevalence of reported injuries during the past 12 months was 50.8% for boys and 42.1% for girls. Most injuries occurred at home for girls (43.6%) and during sports for boys (22.5%). Multivariable models, by gender, showed that age, alcohol consumption, exercise performed during free time, feelings about school, truancy, happiness, feeling alone, number of close friends, feeling of kindness and helpfulness of the other pupils, possibility to talk with parents or tutors, perception about one’s own health, feeling tired on the morning of schooldays and some violent behaviors (fights, racket events and number of times students reported taking a weapon at school) were all associated with the occurrence of injuries. These results increase the knowledge of the epidemiology of injuries in Africa (in terms of morbidity and associated factors) and should lead to an integrated approach of the health behaviors in injury prevention.

KEYWORDS
Injuries, Injury prevention, Youth, Health Behaviors, School Health, Epidemiology, Cameroon

Cite This Paper in IEEE or APA Citation Styles
(a). IEEE Format:
[1] Christelle Senterre , Alain Levêque , Michèle Dramaix , Danielle Piette , "Prevalence, Patterns and Associated Factors of Injuries in School-aged Cameroonian Children," Universal Journal of Public Health, Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 97 - 109, 2014. DOI: 10.13189/ujph.2014.020303.

(b). APA Format:
Christelle Senterre , Alain Levêque , Michèle Dramaix , Danielle Piette (2014). Prevalence, Patterns and Associated Factors of Injuries in School-aged Cameroonian Children. Universal Journal of Public Health, 2(3), 97 - 109. DOI: 10.13189/ujph.2014.020303.