Associations of childhood unintentional injuries with maternal emotional status during COVID-19

Background To explore the characteristics of unintentional childhood-injury during the COVID-19 pandemic and assess the association of unintentional-injury with maternal emotional status. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted with a convenience sample of 1300 children under 12-years-old from 21 schools (including nurseries/ kindergartens/ primary schools) in Wuhan and Shanghai during March to April 2020, and the mothers completed questionnaires online. Self-rating Depression/Anxiety Scales were used to evaluate maternal emotional status, questions on child unintentional-injury were based on the International-Statistical-Classification-of-Diseases-and-Related-Health-Problems-version-10 (ICD-10), and a total of 11 kinds of unintentional injuries were inquired. Information on socio-demographic and family-background factors was also collected. Results The children of 0–4, 5–9, and 10–12 years accounted for 29.2, 55.2 and 15.6%, respectively, the unintentional-injury rates were 10.29, 4.18 and 3.45%, respectively (P < 0.001), and boys had higher rates than girls. The three leading causes included “being struck by/against”, falls and animal bites (traffic-injury accounted for a small proportion). Lower maternal educational, living in suburban/rural (vs. urban) areas, grandparents (vs. mothers) being main caregivers, more child exposure to secondhand smoke, close relatives being suspected/ confirmed COVID-19 cases were associated with a higher risk of child unintentional-injury. After adjusting for related confounders, higher maternal depression levels were associated with a higher risk of unintentional injury. Conclusions The characteristics of unintentional childhood injury were different from those in non-pandemic periods. The main causes, risk factors and the association of unintentional injury with maternal depression deserve attention for development of effective measures for preventing children from unintentional injury during COVID-19 pandemic. Graphical abstract

Grandmaternal investment and early childhood injury: the role of X-chromosomal relatedness

Evolutionary theory posits that grandmothers can increase their inclusive fitness by investing time and resources in their grandchildren. According on the X-linked grandmother hypothesis, the asymmetric inheritance of X-chromosomes should be responsible for the biased effect of the investment by maternal and paternal grandmothers towards granddaughters and grandsons. The British Millennium Cohort Study (n=4445 children) was used to investigate the association between grandmaternal childcare and children’s injuries between the ages of 9 months and 3 years. Support was found for the X-linked grandmother hypothesis predicting that the investment of paternal grandmothers benefits more granddaughters than grandsons, the investment of paternal grandmothers benefits granddaughters more than the investment of maternal grandmothers, and the investment of maternal grandmothers is similarly associated with the injuries of granddaughters and grandsons. However, no support was found for the prediction that maternal grandmothers benefit more grandsons than paternal grandmothers. Thus, some, although not univocal, evidence for the prediction that X-chromosomal relatedness shapes the grandmaternal effect on child outcomes was found.

Child Injuries in Lebanon: Assessing Mothers Injury Prevention Knowledge Attitude and Practices – A Cross Sectional Study

Background: Childhood injury is a neglected public health problem. This study aims to describe the patterns of childhood injury and to determine mothers' Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices (KAP) towards childhood injury prevention in Lebanon. Methods This cross-sectional study recruited working and non-working mothers of children aged 0-10 years from multiple sites (i.e. medical center, private clinic, healthcare facility, refugee camp) to cover all socioeconomic backgrounds. A self-administrated questionnaire collected data on mothers' KAP toward childhood injuries. We analyzed the data and performed a summation score calculation for KAP correct answers. Results A total of 264 mothers were surveyed and injury data were collected on their 464 children. The prevalence of childhood injury was 20% in the past 12 months, mostly sustained by males (53.8%) aged 5-10 years (38.7%). The most common injury type was fall (48.4%), followed by burns (7.5%) and sports injuries (7.5%). Hospitalized injured children were more likely to be males and older than 5 years. More than one-third of the mothers demonstrated poor knowledge, while the majority showed poor practice (54.4%) and a fair attitude (45.6%) towards child injury prevention. Children of working mothers have 3 times higher odds of sustaining injuries (OR:2.95, 95% CI: 1.60;5.47) compared to those of non-working mothers. Conclusion Childhood injury is a major health problem that overburdens the young population, yet mothers lack preventive knowledge and adequate preparedness. Educational programs are recommended for mothers and caregivers. Further studies are needed to understand the cultural context and identify effective strategies for preventing childhood injuries.