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A comparative analysis of child passenger restraint use in China and the United States

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Abstract

Background

Few published studies have examined child passenger safety practices across countries. This study compared the prevalence and associated factors of child passenger restraint use among children, aged 0 to 17 in the state of Iowa in the United States, and the city of Shantou in China.

Methods

Child restraint use observations were conducted in Iowa and in Shantou in 2012, respectively, among child passengers. Observations in Iowa were conducted at randomly selected gas stations, while in Shantou observations were completed at randomly selected schools or medical clinics. Research observers approached the driver, observed restraint use, and collected brief survey data.

Results

A total of 3049 children from Iowa and 3333 children aged 0 to 17 years from Shantou were observed. For children aged 0 to 3 years, only 0.1% were compliantly restrained in Shantou as compared to 95.9% in Iowa. The proportion of children who were compliantly restrained in Shantou increased with age, but generally decreased with age in Iowa. In Shantou, 36.0% of children aged 0 to 3 were sitting in the front seat as compared to only 1.7% of children of the same age in Iowa. Driver seat belt use was significantly associated with child restraint in both Iowa and Shantou; the association was stronger in Iowa than Shantou for all age groups.

Conclusions

A significantly higher prevalence of children who were not appropriately restrained was observed in Shantou than in Iowa. Our findings support the need of mandatory child safety restraint use legislation in China.

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Acknowledgements

We want to thank the University of Iowa Injury Prevention Research Center for their collaboration and assistance with this project. We also want to thank the research staff of University of Iowa Injury Prevention Research Center, and public health graduates at Shantou University Medical College for their contribution of conducting field observations and collecting survey data.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Center for Injury Research and Policy, Columbus, OH, USA

    Jing-Zhen Yang

  2. Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, the Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Jing-Zhen Yang

  3. Injury Prevention Research Center, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, China

    Li-Ping Li

  4. Department of Biostatistics, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA

    Hong-Qian Wu

  5. Injury Prevention Research Center and Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, University of Iowa, 145 N. Riverside Drive S160 CPHB, Iowa City, Iowa, USA

    Hong-Qian Wu, Daniel McGehee & Corinne Peek-Asa

  6. Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA

    Corinne Peek-Asa

  7. Human Factors and Vehicle Safety Research Division, University of Iowa Public Policy Center, Iowa City, Iowa, USA

    Daniel McGehee

Authors
  1. Jing-Zhen Yang
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  2. Li-Ping Li
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  3. Hong-Qian Wu
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  4. Daniel McGehee
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  5. Corinne Peek-Asa
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Corinne Peek-Asa.

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Yang, JZ., Li, LP., Wu, HQ. et al. A comparative analysis of child passenger restraint use in China and the United States. World J Pediatr 13, 593–598 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12519-017-0057-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12519-017-0057-y

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