Serious non-fatal unintentional injuries among in-school adolescents in Sri Lanka: results from the 2016 Sri Lankan Global School-Based Health Survey [post]

Sashimali Wickramasinghe, Nalika Gunawardena, Dhanusha Punyadasa, Shanthi Gunawardena, Champika Wickramasinghe, Ayesha Lokubalasooriya, Renuka Peiris, Sameera Senanayake
2020 unpublished
BackgroundUnintentional injuries among adolescents is a major public health problem world over. A great majority of the annual deaths among adolescents is due to unintentional injuries; being the leading cause of death among them throughout the world. The aim of this study was to estimate the incidence of injuries and their associated factors among school going adolescents aged 13-17 years using the data of the most recent Global School-Based Health Survey (GSHS) conducted in Sri Lanka.MethodsA
more » ... cross-sectional survey was conducted, using a self-administered questionnaire, among 3,262 adolescents attending government schools. The sample was selected through a two-staged cluster sampling technique. In the first stage, 40 schools were selected, using probability proportional to school enrollment size, out of all schools that have 8-12 grades in the country. Then, from the selected schools, classes were selected using systematic equal probability sampling with a random start. Weighted prevalence was calculated, and logistic regression analysis was conducted in order to determine the correlates.ResultsDuring the 12 months before the survey, 35.8% (95% CI-30.7 - 41.1) of the students reported being seriously injured once or more times. The injuries were more common among males, but were equally common among different age groups (13-15 age group vs 16-17 age group). The most common type of injury was cut or stab wound (5.5%), followed by broken bone/dislocated joint (5.3%). Multivariable analysis revealed that only a few factors were associated with injury, such as male sex, being bullied, being physically attacked, and/or being in a physical fight.ConclusionThis study demonstrated that the prevalence of serious unintentional injuries among school going adolescents is a major public health problem in Sri Lanka. This timely and comprehensive survey would help the policy makers and researchers identify the unmet needs related to adolescent injuries. Furthermore, evidence generated form the study should be given due consideration while designing school-based interventions in order to prevent adolescent injuries.
doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-27879/v2 fatcat:6i7yrbs3uvcvno2q2kb3vt754a