With fall sports around the corner, it's time for a sports physical

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention photo

By Dr. Scott Black
University of Kentucky

The potential benefits of letting your child participate in sports are innumerable, but sports also come with inherent risks -- many of them that can be avoided with a sports physical. 

From the intensity of competitive play to the physical demands of training, athletes face potential injuries that could range from mild strains to more serious issues like an irregular heartbeat.

That’s why a sports physical should be at the top of every annual preseason checklist. Not only are sports physicals often required by states and schools prior to athletic participation, they’re also essential for injury prevention and catching preexisting conditions that could keep an athlete off the field.

What happens at a sports physical? While a sports physical should not substitute for an annual checkup or well-child visit, sports physicals are similar in that a medical provider will perform a physical examination of your child to evaluate if they can safely take part in sports.

The health-care provider may inquire about your child’s medical history by asking about any known medical problems like asthma or diabetes, past injuries like concussions or broken bones, allergies, medical issues that may run in the family, medications your child is taking, including over-the-counter medicines or supplements and their diet. 

The provider will also typically record your child’s height and weight, check their blood pressure, listen to their breathing and heartbeat, examine their reflexes and muscle, bone and joint health and test their vision

If the doctor determines your child’s health is fit for the field, they’ll clear them for competition. Should they identify anything of concern, the provider might offer a treatment plan or refer your child to a specialist for further evaluation.

It’s recommended to schedule your child’s sports physical several weeks prior to the start of the school year. That way, if there is an issue, your child can begin treatment well before the beginning of the season.

Where should we go for a sports physical? Many families go to their primary care providers to get their sports physicals done. Some schools or clinics may offer free sports physicals on a particular day, but that examination may be less personal, especially if your child doesn’t already know the provider.

Do we still need to do a check-up? While a sports physical is similar to an annual checkup, they’re not the same. Annual check-ups are crucial to making sure your child’s development is on track, is up to date on vaccinations and that your child is generally healthy.

A sports physical can’t replace a check-up, but you can ask your provider’s office if they can be done at the same time.

Dr. Scott Black is clinical director of the University Health Service at the University of Kentucky.

Fireworks are fun, but they can be dangerous

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission graphic; click on it to enlarge

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

While it wouldn't feel like the Fourth of July without fireworks, it's important to remember that all fireworks, even sparklers, can be dangerous.

"The safest way to view fireworks is to watch professional displays,”  Consumer Product Safety Commission Chair Alex Hoehn-Saric said in a news release. “If you choose to light your own, make sure you only buy legal fireworks intended for consumer use from a reputable retailer."

A new CPSC report says that in 2023, the commission received reports of eight deaths and an estimated 9,700 injuries involving fireworks. Out of the eight deaths, five were associated with firework misuse, two with a device malfunction, and one involved unknown circumstances.

A CPSC analysis of the injury data found that in the four weeks leading up to and including Independence Day in 2023, teens aged 15-19 had the highest estimated rate of emergency-department visits visits for fireworks-related injuries, followed by children aged 5-9.

Of those ED visits, the analysis found that an estimated 800 of the injuries were associated with firecrackers and 700 were associated with sparklers. The report says sparklers accounted for 51% of the total estimated injuries in children under the age of 5. 

"Never allow children to play with or ignite fireworks, including sparklers. Sparklers burn at temperatures of about 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit -- hot enough to melt some metals," says the release.  

For using sparklers, here are safety tips from Michigan Medicine: 

• Hold sparkler away from face.
• Wear shoes when using sparklers.
• Only use one sparkler at a time.
• Stay six feet apart from others.

First-aid tips for burns, from Michigan Medicine: 

• Be prepared to use first aid. For a minor burn, place a towel soaked in cool water over the area for about five minutes. Then cover with a clean bandage and give your child acetaminophen to reduce pain and swelling.
• For a major burn, or if the burn involves eyes, take the child to the emergency room promptly.

Here are some overall safety tips from the Kentucky state fire marshal: 

• Use fireworks outdoors only.
• Obey local laws. If fireworks are not legal where you live, do not use them.
• Always keep a bucket of water or a working water hose nearby.
• Only use fireworks as intended. Don't try to alter them or combine them.
• Never relight a "dud" firework. Wait 20 minutes and then soak it in a bucket of water.
• Use common sense. Spectators should keep a safe distance from the shooter and the shooter should wear safety glasses.
• Alcohol and fireworks do not mix. Have a "designated adult operator."
• Do not use homemade fireworks or illegal explosives -- they can kill you!
• Report illegal explosives to the fire or police department in your community.
• Never allow children to play with or ignite fireworks.
• Read and follow all instructions on the label.

Surgeon general declares gun violence a public-health crisis; new AMA president, a Louisville physician, calls it 'evidence-based'

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy (AP file photo, 2023)

This story has been updated.

By Amanda Seitz

Associated Press

The U.S. surgeon general on Tuesday declared gun violence a public-health crisis, driven by the fast-growing number of injuries and deaths involving firearms in the country.

The advisory issued by Dr. Vivek Murthy, the nation’s top doctor, came as the U.S. grappled with another summer weekend marked by mass shootings that left dozens of people dead or wounded.

“People want to be able to walk through their neighborhoods and be safe,” Murthy told The Associated Press in a phone interview. “America should be a place where all of us can go to school, go to work, go to the supermarket, go to our house of worship, without having to worry that that’s going to put our life at risk.”

To drive down gun deaths, Murthy calls on the U.S. to ban automatic rifles, introduce universal background checks for purchasing guns, regulate the industry, pass laws that would restrict their use in public spaces and penalize people who fail to safely store their weapons.

Murthy said there is “broad agreement” that gun violence is a problem, citing a poll last year that found most Americans worry at least sometimes that a loved one might be injured by a firearm. More than 48,000 Americans died from gun injuries in 2022.

His advisory promises to be controversial and will certainly incense Republican lawmakers, most of whom opposed Murthy’s confirmation — twice — to the job over his statements on gun violence.

Dr. Bruce Scott

Dr. Bruce Scott of Louisville, new president of the American Medical Association, called Murthy’s advisory an “evidence-based public-health approach to addressing firearm violence” in a statement. “Firearm violence is indeed a public health crisis,” he said, adding, “The data now show it touches the majority of U.S. adults.”

 

Murthy has published warnings about troubling health trends in American life, including social media use and loneliness. He’s stayed away from issuing a similar advisory about gun violence since his 2014 confirmation as surgeon general was stalled and nearly derailed by the firearm lobby and Republicans who opposed his past statements about firearms.

Murthy ended up promising the Senate that he did “not intend to use my office as surgeon general as a bully pulpit on gun control.”

Then-President Donald Trump dismissed Murthy in 2017, but President Joe Biden nominated Murthy again to the position in 2021. At his second confirmation hearing, he told senators that declaring guns a public-health crisis would not be his focus during a new term.

But he has faced mounting pressure from some doctors and Democratic advocacy groups to speak out more. A group of four former surgeon generals asked the Biden administration to produce a report on the problem in 2022.

“It is now time for us to take this issue out of the realm of politics and put it in the realm of public health, the way we did with smoking more than a half century ago,” Murthy told the AP.

A 1964 report from the surgeon general that raised awareness about the dangers of smoking is largely credited with snubbing out tobacco use and precipitating regulations on the industry.

Children and younger Americans, in particular, are suffering from gun violence, Murthy notes in his advisory, called “Firearm Violence: A Public Health Crisis in America.” Suicide by gun rates have increased significantly in recent years for Americans under the age of 35. Children in the U.S. are far more likely to die from gun wounds than children in other countries, the research he gathered shows.

In addition to new regulations, Murthy calls for an increase on gun violence research and for the health system — which is likely to be more amenable to his advisory — to promote gun-safety education during doctor visits.

UPDATE, June 26: New research highlights the need for a public-health approach in news reporting of gun violence, reports Journalist's Resource at Harvard University.

Tips to prevent drowning, No. 1 cause of unintentional injury-related death among children under 5; swim lessons reduce risk

By Melissa Patrick

Kentucky Health News

As summer approaches and people begin to head to pools, lakes, ponds and streams, it's important to remember that drownings can happen to anyone in a matter of seconds – and that they are often preventable. 

CDC photo

Drowning is the leading cause of unintentional injury-related death among children under the age of 5, with most of the drownings happening in swimming pools, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is the second leading cause of unintentional injury death for children between the ages of 5 and 14, behind motor-vehicle crashes. 

In 2022, 15 Kentucky children died from drowning and three experienced "near fatalities," according to the state's 2023 Child Fatality and Near Fatality External Review Panel annual report.

Here are some suggestions from the CDC to prevent drowning, which can happen in seconds and is often silent. 

• Learn and teach children basic swimming skills.
• Build fences that fully enclose pools, with self-closing gates. 
• Designate a responsible adult to supervise children closely and constantly when they are near water – including bathtubs. 
• Children should wear life jackets for all activities around natural water, and weaker swimmers of all ages should also wear them around swimming pools. Do not rely on air-filled or foam toys; they are not safety devices. It's also important to make sure a life jacket fits properly. Click here to learn how to choose the right life jacket. 
• Learn CPR, which could save a person's life in the time it takes paramedics to arrive. Many organizations such as American Red Cross and American Heart Association offer CPR classes.

Swimming lessons reduce risk

From 2016 to 2021, 329 Kentuckians unintentionally drowned, with most of these deaths happening among people 45-54 and 65 and older. There were also 543 visits to the emergency departments related to unintentional drowning injuries and most of these were children under the age of 5, according to the Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center.

Nationwide, about 4,000 people a year in the U.S. unintentionally drown, and those deaths disproportionately affect age, racial and ethnic groups, according to a recent CDC report. 

That same study found that the number of unintentional drownings were "significantly higher" during the pandemic (2020-22), than those in the pre-pandemic (2019).  And, it said, the drowning rates during the pandemic included "increases among populations that were already at elevated risk, such as children, older adults and Black persons." 

The report notes that data on drowning-risk factors are limited, but suggests that increased drownings in the pandemic could have been related to infrastructure disruptions, including limited access to supervised swimming settings. 

The report stresses that basic swimming and water-safety skills training can reduce the risk for drowning, but social and structural barriers to accessing this training persist – especially among groups at the highest risk. 

To that point, the study found that just over one half of U.S. adults have never taken a swimming lesson and that this rate was highest among Hispanics (72%), Blacks (63%) and other races or ethnicities (53%). Further, it found that 15% of adults reported not knowing how to swim. 

"Recent increases in drowning rates, including those among populations already at high risk, have increased the urgency of implementing prevention strategies," says the report.  "Basic swimming and water safety skills training can reduce the risk for drowning." 

KET will air three hours of programs on youth mental health in November; first one airs Monday, Nov. 5 at 9 p.m. ET

Kentucky Educational Television will broadcst a six-part series called "You Are Not Alone," aimed at raising awareness of the issues regarding the mental health of Kentucky youth.

Topics will include depression, anxiety, stigma, suicide prevention, trauma, toxic stress, parental concerns and challenges, the role of schools, youth advocacy and promising strategies.

The six 30-minute programs, hosted by Renee Shaw, will air back-to-back on three consecutive Mondays in November. The first two, "Youth Speak Out" and "Help for Families and Caregivers" will air Nov. 5; "Whole Child, Whole School" and "Depression and Anxiety" will air Nov. 12; and "Trauma and Toxic Stress" and "Suicide Prevention/ Teaching Hope" will air Nov. 19.  All will begin at 9 p.m. ET.

Kentuckians are encouraged to let the pros handle the fireworks; even sparklers, firecrackers and bottle rockets are dangerous

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

Fireworks are often synonymous with the Fourth of July, but they are also a common cause of injury, so the state Division of Fire Prevention recommends attending a community firework event instead of celebrating with fireworks at home.

"Let the professionals entertain your family," Mike Haney, state fire marshal and director of fire prevention for the Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction, said in a news release. "By celebrating at a public event instead of at home, you reduce the risk of injury and property damage. You may also avoid violating the law."

Consumer Product Safety Commission graphic, using data from the 2017 Fireworks Annual Report

The latest U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission fireworks report found that in 2017, 12,900 consumers were treated in U.S. emergency rooms for fireworks-related injuries and eight people died from them, with  victims ranging from age four to 57. Seven of the deaths were a result of direct impact from fireworks and one of them was the result of a house fire caused by misusing a firecracker.

The report adds that children between the ages of 10 and 14 were seen most often in emergency rooms for fireworks injuries, followed by young adults between the ages of 20 to 24.

Haney also reminded Kentuckians to pay attention to state and local fireworks laws.

For example, state law prohibits people under 18 from buying fireworks, and from selling them unless supervised by a parent or guardian. The law bans fireworks from being used within 200 feet of a structure, vehicle or other person; and fireworks cannot be sold to anyone who is under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

"Local governments set their own firework ordinances, so be aware of the regulations in your own town," Haney said.

Here are some safety tips from the National Council on Fireworks Safety:

 * Read and follow the instructions on the label.
 * A responsible adult should supervise all firework activities.
 * Never allow children to play with or ignite fireworks.
 * Alcohol and fireworks do not mix. Have a "designated adult shooter."
 * Wear safety glasses when shooting fireworks.
 * Light one firework at a time and then quickly move away.
 * Never light fireworks in a container, especially a glass or metal container.
 * Use fireworks outdoors in a clear area away from buildings and vehicles.
 * Always have a bucket of water and charged water hose nearby.
 * Never relight a "dud" firework; wait 20 minutes and soak in a bucket of water.
 * Do not experiment with homemade fireworks.
 * Wet down used fireworks and place them in a metal trash can.
 * Place disposed of fireworks away from buildings or combustible materials.
 * Report any illegal explosives to the fire or police department.

The CPSC report says that on average,  280 people went to the emergency room every day with fireworks-related injuries in the month around the July 4th holiday in 2017, with about 1,200 of those visits related to sparkler injuries, 800 of them relate to firecrackers and 300 related to bottle rockets.

Michael Spencer, a pilot from Bowling Green, told attendees of a CPSC fireworks event about the dangers of fireworks, having lost several fingers on both hands in 2015 from a shell-and-mortar style firework device. Spencer is now committed to making sure this doesn't happen to anyone else, CPSC writes in a news release about its latest fireworks report, released June 27.

 “Fireworks can be extremely dangerous, even if they are legal,” Spencer said in the release.“My advice would be to leave them to the professionals.”

KidsHealth also stresses that kids should "never play with fireworks," writing that this includes "firecrackers, rockets and sparklers" because they are "just too dangerous."

"If you give kids sparklers, make sure they keep them outside and away from the face, clothing and hair," they write. Sparklers can burn at nearly 2,000 degrees Farenheit and bottle rockets are known to stray off course or to throw shrapnel when they explode.

If a person is injured by fireworks, KidsHealth says to immediately seek medical care.

If the injury is to an eye, KidsHealth says not to rub it, since that may cause more damage; don't flush the eye with water or to put any ointment on it. Instead, cut out the bottom of a paper cup, place it around the eye, and get medical care right away, because your eyesight may depend on it.

If a person is burned, KidsHealth recommends removing the clothing from the burned area and to call your doctor immediately.

Study analysis by Ky. critic of hospital safety estimates more than 200,000 preventable hospital-associated deaths each year

An analysis of two well-controlled studies estimates that the number of preventable hospital-associated deaths are over 200,000 each year, argues a commentary in the Journal of Patient Safety.

In an online review, Dr. Kevin Kavanagh, the lead analyst, acknowledges that critics of such studies will say the data is flawed because they often include older and sicker patients.

However, he adds they also don't include diagnostic errors, deaths that occur after the patient goes home from the hospital, or don't include data about patients whose deaths are imminent. Thus, he concludes, the number of deaths in these studies are more often underestimated, not overestimated.

"The onus is on the facilities to provide better data," he said, adding that his analysis looked at the two studies with the most rigorous data sets.

"We calculated an annual rate of 163,156 preventable deaths and when combined with diagnostic errors, non-captured events and deaths after hospitalization can be projected to approximate 200,000 preventable deaths annually," Kavanagh, a retired physician and chairman of HealthWatch USA, said in an e-mail.

The report says that despite having the knowledge to prevent many adverse events, "many health systems do not adequately invest in patient safety to put well-known safety improvement strategies in place." The report offers as an example resistance to mandatory nurse-to-patient ratios, which have been proven to decrease falls, pressure sores, urinary tract infections and decrease medication errors.

"Advocates are not calling to prevent problems for which solutions are not known, but calling to implement known solutions to prevent all too common problems," the report says. "What ties the occurrence of preventable adverse events and mortality together is the willingness and determination of facilities to adopt a culture of safety and to invest in patient safety."

It also points out that data from countries with nationalized health care systems and "well-defined and near-uniform implementation standards" cannot be compared to the United States' combination of non-profit, for-profit and government-systems.

Kavanagh said that even if the preventable hospital mortality rate from medical errors "is not the 163,156 that we have projected, but is as low as the 25,000 per year based on the United Kingdom's NHS data, that equates to approximately 5 potentially preventable deaths per year, per hospital in the United States, or one every two to three months.

"In addition, one could argue that this figure should be doubled by accounting for deaths from diagnostic errors," Kavanagh writes. "In what other industry would such a record be tolerated, let alone defended? Would the airline industry and public ever tolerate even a single preventable airline crash? We can and must do better."

UK researchers develop video game to teach agricultural safety to college and high-school students

Screen shot of "Hazard Ridge" video game

Researchers at the University of Kentucky are using a video game to educate young people about the dangers of agriculture, a line of work that has one of the highest rates of workplace fatalities in the U.S., Olivia McCoy reports for UKnow.

Since 2013 researchers at the UK College of Education and the Southeast Center for Agricultural Health and Injury Prevention, in UK's College of Public Health, have been teaching agriculture students and high-school students ag safety using a 3-D game called Hazard Ridge, which "simulates an injury that has occurred in a small rural town where teens are disappearing and the town is going bankrupt," McCoy writes.

"Players serve as the investigator of this issue and learn how agricultural injuries have negative effects on the town’s economy and citizens," McCoy writes. "The game teaches investigative skills and educates on how to conduct a financial analysis of injury."

Jennifer Watson, research coordinator for the Southeast Center for Agricultural Health and Injury Prevention, "said one of the goals for the game is to 'overcome the culture of comfort'," McCoy writes. Watson told McCoy, "Spending their entire lives around dangerous equipment lulls those working and living on farms into a false sense of safety and lessens their belief that they are at risk for injury." She said preventive measures, such as the game, reduces the risk of injury or death. (Read more)

Girls are more likely than boys to have overuse injuries while participating in high school sports

Overuse injuries make up more than 50 percent of athletic injuries and are most common in children ages 13 to 17. Girls are at a higher risk than boys of overuse injuries while participating in high school sports, according to a study by researchers at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and published in the Journal of Pediatrics. Tendonitis, stress fractures and joint pain are examples of overuse injuries, which happen when athletes perform the same motion again and again.

In the study, Thomas Best analyzed 3,000 injury cases during a seven year period of time associated with 20 high school sports such as soccer, volleyball, gymnastics and lacrosse. Best and his team discovered the highest rate of overuse injuries happened in girls' track (3.82), followed by girls' field hockey (2.93) and girls' lacrosse (2.73). The most common overuse injuries for boys occurred in swimming and diving (1.3).

"These young people spend more time playing sports both in competition and in practice," said Best, an endowed professor in Ohio State's department of family medicine. "So there's a correlation there between the amount of time that they're playing and the increased incidence of injuries."

Over the past 10 years, high school athletic participation and intensity has gone up. Best said some high school athletes spend more than 18 hours per week participating in athletics, and some play more than one sport at a time. The most common site of overuse injuries is the lower leg, followed by the knee then the shoulder, Best said. To avoid overuse injuries, Best recommends varying movement, playing more than one sport and prioritizing rest and nutrition.

"During this point of their lives, this is when girls are developing bones at the greatest rate," Best said. "It's incredible important that they're getting the proper amounts of calcium and vitamin D."

Ensure children's eye safety during fall sports season

Children are back in school, playing sports, and parents can take precautions to ensure their children's eye safety as they compete.

Although many parents are unaware of the risks posed to their child's eye safety, about 40,000 eye injuries take place in the United States during sports or recreational activities each year, says Prevent Blindness America. Some sport-related eye injuries lead to vision loss, with almost one-third of them occurring in children between the ages of 5 and 14, says the Kentucky Optometric Association.

“Eye injuries are the leading cause of blindness in children in America, and most injuries occurring in school-aged children are sports-related,” Benton optometrist Dr. Laurel Van Horn said in a KOA release. “The results of an eye injury can range from temporary to permanent vision loss, so it’s important that parents take the proper steps when their children play sports.”

Almost 90 percent of these injuries are preventable with proper use of eye protection on the playing field, says Van Horn. To prevent such injuries, the KOA provides the following tips for eye and vision safety while playing sports: Always wear protective eyewear, do not rely on street eyewear for protection, and refer to the American Society for Testing and Materials standards when shopping for protective eyewear. Click here to learn more or find an optometrist in your area.

Eye doctors warn about danger from fireworks, even sparklers; optometrists provide safety tips

The Fourth of July goes hand in glove with firework displays. Most families protect parents and children against the dangers of fireworks, but thousands still visit the emergency room every year, many with eye injuries.

According to a report from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, about 9,600 people were treated for injuries due to fireworks in U.S. emergency rooms during 2011; it says 17 percent of those injuries were to the eyes, and about 45 percent of those eye injuries involve children age 15 or under. Most eye injuries were bruises, cuts and other diagnoses that included foreign objects in the eye, and one in six fireworks-related eye injuries result in permanent vision loss or blindness, says the American Academy of Opthalmology.

“Celebrating the Fourth of July with fireworks is a great tradition, but safety needs to be the top priority,” Dr. Jon Shrewsbury, an optometrist in Beaver Dam, Ky., said in a Kentucky Optometric Association release.  “Children are especially vulnerable to injury from fireworks, particularly sparklers since they are handled at such close range.”

The innocent-looking sparkler can be very dangerous, especially to children, who are most likely to play with them. They heat up to 2,000 degrees or hotter, and are the primary cause of fireworks-related visits to emergency rooms. In addition to not allowing younger children to play with sparklers or fireworks and ensuring that older children are supervised by an adult when doing so, the KOA offers these tips to help protect and preserve eyesight during firework season:

· Discuss firework safety with children and teens prior to the Fourth of July holiday.
· Never leave them unsupervised near fireworks.
· Wear protective eyewear when lighting and handling fireworks of any kind.
· Store fireworks, matches and lighters in a secure place where children won’t find them.
· Be aware of your surroundings, and only light fireworks when family, friends and children are at a safe distance.

“If a firework-related eye injury does occur, always follow up with a full optometric eye exam,” Shrewsbury said. “An optometrist will help ensure that the injury heals correctly and will continue to monitor for future vision problems.” To find an optometrist in your area, click here.

New study finds texting and driving kills and injures more teens than drinking and driving, and is becoming more prevalent

A new study finds that texting while driving has become more dangerous among teenagers than drinking and driving, and it says the number of teens who are dying or being injured as a result of this habit has "skyrocketed."

Nationwide, more than 3,000 teens are killed and 300,000 are injured as a result of texting and driving, compared to 2,700 deaths and 282,000 injuries from drinking and driving, said researchers at Cohen Children's Medical Center in New Hyde Park, N.Y.

"A person who is texting can be as impaired as a driver who is legally drunk," said Dr. Andrew Adesman, chief of developmental and behavioral pediatrics at Cohen.

Adesman and his team found that the number of teens who text and drive exceed the number who drink and drive, that more boys admit to texting than girls, and that texting increases with age, writes Delthia Ricks of Newsday. While teens' texting is increasing, the CDC reports alcohol use among teen drivers has decreased by 54 percent over the past 14 years.

On Wednesday, officials from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration described texting as among the worst of driver distractions, and Adesman says texting is as hazardous as "drinking and driving, binge drinking, drug and tobacco use, unsafe sex and tanning devices," writes Ricks.

"We have very strong taboos against drinking and driving. Kids don't drink and drive every day," Adesman said. "But some kids are out there texting and driving seven days a week -- and they admit it."

Kentucky ranks 10th in nation for injury-related deaths

Injuries are the third leading cause of death nationally, the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 1 and 44. Kentucky is among the nation's most problematic states, and it could take several more steps to prevent injuries, says a new state-by-state report on injury-prevention policy.

Kentucky ranks 10th in the nation for injury-related deaths, with a rate of 76.5 such deaths per 100,000 people, and the state spends about $26.8 million for injury-related medical expenses. New Mexico has the highest rate of injury-related deaths, 97.8 per 100,000 people, and New Jersey has the lowest at 36.1. The national rate is 57.9, so Kentucky's rate is almost a third higher than the nation.

Kentucky scored with only three of a set of 10 key indicators for injury prevention: its primary seat belt law, which most states also have; its prescription drug monitoring program, driven by heavy abuse of painkillers; and a strong law on youth sports concussions. Among the injury-prevention indicators that Kentucky lacks, it does not:

• Require bicycle helmets for all children.
• Require that children ride in a car seat or booster seat to at least the age of eight.
• Require helmets for all motorcycle riders. (It once did, but when the law was repealed, deaths rose 50 percent, the report says.)
• Does not require mandatory ignition interlocks for convicted drunk drivers.
• Does not allow people in dating relationships to get protection orders.

The report by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation concludes that millions of injuries could be prevented and billions of dollars could be saved in medical costs each year if more states adopted, implemented and enforced additional research-based injury prevention policies and programs. (Read more).

Report: Bounce-house injuries to children have skyrocketed

A new report out today in the journal Pediatrics warns that, on average, 31 children a day are transported to U.S. emergency departments for treatment of bounce-house injuries, including fractured bones and muscle damage. "If this was an infectious disease, we'd call it an epidemic and it would be on the front pages all over the country," said study co-author Dr. Gary A. Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. (Associated Press photo)

Randy Dotinga of HealthDay reports that in the 15-year period between 1995 and 2010, the rate of bounce-house injuries jumped 15-fold, with the number escalating in the last few years of the study. In the new study, published online Monday and in the December print issue of Pediatrics, researchers found the most common bounce-house injuries were fractures, strains and sprains. Concussions and cuts were more common in boys. The average age of those hurt was 7.5 years old. (Read more) 

Injury prevention policies in Kentucky lacking, study finds

Kentucky scored a dismal 3 on a scale of 10 in a safety study that assessed states against the the top 10 injury indicators in the country. The state had the 10th highest injury rate, with 76.6 Kentuckians per 100,000 dying from intentional or unintentional injuries.

Injuries are the third leading cause of death nationally, and the leading cause of death for Americans between ages 1 and 44.

The survey assessed states on whether they:
• Have primary seat belt laws.
• Require mandatory ignition interlocks for all convicted drunk drivers, including first offenders
• Require all motorcycle riders to wear helmets.
• Require booster seats to at least the age of 8.
• Require children to wear bicycle helmets.
• Allow people in dating relationships to get protection orders.
• Receive an A in the Break the Cycle Report, which examines teen dating violence.
• Have a strong concussion law.
• Have an active prescription drug monitoring program.
• Have a strong policy in emergency departments that allows researchers and officials to understand injury trends.

Kentucky got points for having a seat-belt law, a strong concussion law and a drug monitoring program. The state was close to getting credit for the booster seat indicator; it requires the seats for children until they are 7. Kentucky also reported more than 85 percent of injury discharges in its emergency departments, but the indicator only gave credit to states that do it more than 90 percent of the time. But Kentucky was far was perfect when it came to teen dating violence, receiving a F grade in the Break the Cycle report.

Because of its injury rate, the study concluded Kentuckains pay $26.8 million in lifetime medical costs due to fatal injuries and $3.3 billion for total lifetime work loss due to fatal injuries.

The study shows how injury prevention policies can help save lives. The report points out that after Kentucky repealed its universal helmet law in 1998, motorcycle deaths rose by 50 percent. (Read more)