PREVENTABLE CHILD AND YOUTH DEATHS

This indicator reports the number of deaths from unintentional and intentional injuries, including suicide and homicide. Leading causes of death by age group are also identified.

The death of every child is a tragedy for family and friends and a loss to the community. Along with the direct impact of a child’s death, the child death rate in a community is an important indicator for public health advocates and policymakers. A high rate can point to underlying problems, such as violent neighborhoods or inadequate child supervision.1 Unintentional childhood mortality due to injury is strongly inversely related to median income and thus, a solid indicator of poverty.2 It can also point to inequities, for example, in access to health care or safe places to play.2 Because children are much more likely to die during the first year of life (infancy) than they are at older ages, trends in infant mortality are discussed separately (pages 16-17).

• Orange County’s overall injury death rate for children decreased 41% from a peak rate of 12.9 per 100,000 children ages one to 19 years in 2006 to 7.6 per 100,000 children in 2015. Orange County’s rate of 7.6 is lower than California’s rate of 11.0 in 2015.

• The unintentional injury death rate (e.g., accidental poisoning, motor vehicle accident, or drowning) also decreased 41% from a peak rate of 7.5 per 100,000 children ages one to 19 years in 2006 to 4.4 per 100,000 children in 2015.

• Despite this decrease, unintentional injuries accounted for the highest average number (41 per year) and rate (4.4 per 100,000) of all injury deaths to children between 2013 and 2015, regardless of age group.

• The next most common causes of death for all children were cancer (14.7 per year) and suicide (12.0 per year).

• Nearly half (48%) of all child and youth deaths were among the older teen age group (ages 15 to 19).

Injury, Unintentional Injury, Suicide and Homicide, Rate Per 100,000 Children, One to 19 Years Old

Injury Death Rates per 100,000, Youth One to 19 Years Old, Orange

Leading Causes of Death for Children One to 19 Years Old, by Age Group and Number