Understanding the circumstances of paediatric fall injuries: a machine learning analysis of NEISS narratives.

objectivesFalls are the leading cause of non-fatal injury among young children. The aim of this study was to identify and quantify the circumstances contributing to medically attended paediatric fall injuries among 0-4 years old.

methodsCross-sectional data for falls among kids under 5 years recorded between 2012 and 2016 in the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System was obtained. A sample of 4546 narratives was manually coded for: (1) where the child fell from; (2) what the child fell onto; (3) the activities preceding the fall and (4) how the fall occurred. A natural language processing model was developed and subsequently applied to the remaining uncoded data to yield a set of 91 325 cases coded for what the child fell from, fell onto, the activities preceding the fall, and how the fall occurred. Data were descriptively tabulated by age and disposition.

resultsChildren most often fell from the bed accounting for one-third (33%) of fall injuries in infants, 13% in toddlers and 12% in preschoolers. Children were more likely to be hospitalised if they fell from another person (7.4% vs 2.6% for all other sources; p<0.01). After adjusting for age, the odds of a child being hospitalised following a fall from another person were 2.1 times higher than falling from other surfaces (95% CI 1.6 to 2.7).

conclusionsThe prevalence of injuries due to falling off the bed, and the elevated risk of serious injury from falling from another person highlights the need for more robust and effective communication to caregivers on fall injury prevention.