Unintentional Injuries among School-Aged Children in Palestine: Findings from the National Study of Palestinian Schoolchildren (HBSC-WBG2006)

Abstract

Nutritional value of the Middle Eastern diet: Analysis of total sugar, salt, and iron in Lebanese traditional dishes Socioeconomic and environmental factors associated with increased alcohol purchase and consumption in 38 countries during the Covid-19 pandemic

Purpose. This study describes the nonfatal injuries among adolescents in Palestine. Methods.The 2006 Palestinian Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) is a cross-sectional survey. Students of grades 6, 8, 10, and 12 completed a modified version of the international HBSC questionnaire, resulting in 15,963 students (47.3% boys and 52.7% girls) included in this study (56.9% from the West Bank and 43.1% from Gaza). Results. Of the total 15,963 adolescents, 47.6% were injured, with boys (53.5%) being statistically higher than girls (42.1%) (𝑃 < 0.001). The prevalence of those injured more than once decreased by age and was also found significantly higher in boys than in girls (27.3% and 17.9%, resp.) (𝑃 < 0.001). Children living in low FAS families showed significantly lower ratios of injuries than those living in moderate and high FAS families (𝑃 < 0.001). Injuries while biking were significantly higher among boys (46.3%) than girls (41.7%) (𝑃 < 0.001), and injuries while walking/running were more prevalent among girls (32.5%) than boys (28.0%) (𝑃 < 0.001). Conclusion. Despite these considerably high rates, injury remains relatively underappreciated. Results of this study are useful to develop a national injury prevention program aimed at enhancing the safety of Palestinian adolescents Keywords: Covid-19 pandemic, Palestinian adolescents ,Environmental factors, Middle Eastern.