RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Behavioural characteristics associated with dog bites to children presenting to an urban trauma centre
JF Injury Prevention
JO Inj Prev
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
SP 348
OP 353
DO 10.1136/ip.2010.029868
VO 17
IS 5
A1 Ilana R Reisner
A1 Michael L Nance
A1 Jason S Zeller
A1 Eileen M Houseknecht
A1 Nancy Kassam-Adams
A1 Douglas J Wiebe
YR 2011
UL http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/17/5/348.abstract
AB Children are the most frequent victims of dog bites presenting to hospital emergency departments (ED), but there are gaps in understanding of the circumstances of such bites. The objective of this study was to characterise the behavioural circumstances of dog bites by interviewing children ≤17 years (or parent proxies for children ≤6 years) presenting with dog bite injuries to The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia about the bite incident, its setting and associated interactions. Of 203 children enrolled, 51% were <7 years old and 55% were male. 72% of children knew the biting dog. Most bites to younger children occurred during positive interactions, initiated by the child, with stationary, familiar dogs, indoors. Most older bitten children had been active (eg, outdoors), unfamiliar with the dog and not interacting. Whereas face bites predominated (70%) in the younger group (<7 years), bites to extremities predominated (72%) in the older group. Recognition of the two distinctive behavioural and circumstantial subgroups of dog bites that emerged can lead to more effective prevention strategies.