Monday, October 25, 2010

The State Child Death Review Board (SCDRB) was created by the Kansas Legislature in 1992 and is administered by the Office of Kansas Attorney General Steve Six. The SCDRB consists of 10-volunteer members whose appointments are defined by statute, K.S.A. Supp. 22a-241 et seq. and two staff members. The purpose of the SCDRB is to determine the number of Kansas children who die annually, describe trends and patterns of child deaths, identify risk factors, improve information gathering and communication among agencies, and develop prevention strategies in order to lower the number of child deaths.

The collection of child fatality data began by the Board in1993, and the first annual report was produced in 1994. The 2010 Annual Report contains fatality data from calendar year 2008. There were 502 total child deaths in 2008.

The Board continues to work towards lowering child death in Kansas. To that end they have made several public policy recommendations in the 2010 Annual Report. The recommendations consist of: comprehensive and thorough investigations and autopsies, working partnerships with various for public education purposes, improving women’s/maternal health to lower infant mortality, comprehensive laws regarding ATV’s, prohibiting unattended children in vehicles, and adjustments to laws allowing children to drive on a Farm Permit.

All child deaths are classified into one of the six manners of death categories, which are listed below along with the total number of deaths from 2008:

• Natural-Except Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) - 316 deaths


• Natural-SIDS - 49 deaths


• Unintentional Injury (motor vehicle crash, drowning, strangulation, etc.) - 79 deaths


• Homicide (including gang-related and child-abuse) – 26 deaths
  
• Suicide – 9 deaths


• Undetermined (multiple circumstances may have contributed to the child’s death, but no identifiable cause is established) – 23 deaths.

Natural deaths remained the largest category for child fatalities. Sixty-four percent of these deaths were infants less than 29-days-of-age, 40% were due to prematurity, and 22% were due to congenital malformation. Infant mortality stems from an array of social, economic, health and behavioral factors. Statewide efforts are underway to address the issue of maternal health and infant mortality.

In 2008, 85% of the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) deaths occurred in the first four months of life. In 82% of the cases mechanical asphyxia or suffocation caused by overlay could not be ruled out because the infants were placed to sleep in an unsafe environment, e.g. in a bed, on a couch/recliner, or on their abdomen. Only 24% of the infants who died from SIDS were placed in a crib to sleep and 37% were placed on their back. A Safe sleep environment for infants is critical.

Although they represent a small number of the total deaths, violence-related deaths (homicide and suicide) are the most alarming and usually contain elements of preventability. Traditionally, the majority of the homicides have been committed using a weapon; however, there has been an alarming increase in the number of child-abuse homicides. Fifty percent of the total homicide deaths in 2008 were children who were killed from abuse. Most of them were under age four and died from abusive head trauma. Sixty-one percent were killed by someone other than the biological parent and 38% were killed by the mother’s boyfriend who had been left to care for the child.

The majority of the suicide deaths were teens aged 16 and 17 who died from asphyxia. Thirty-three percent of them had previously attempted suicide or expressed suicidal ideation prior to death. Forty-four percent of the children experienced a recent breakup or argument with a significant other and 77% were reported to have family discord.

Unintentional injury (UI) remains a leading cause of death for children. While suffocation/strangulation and drowning experienced a fair number of fatalities, most of the UI deaths were from motor vehicle crashes (MVC). MVC’s accounted for 65% of the total unintentional injury deaths. Forty-eight percent of those deaths involved inattentive or inexperienced teen drivers. The MVC category also includes All-Terrain Vehicles (ATV’s), motorcycles, go-carts, bicycles, and pedestrians. Six pedestrians died in 2008, one child died in a go-cart crash, two were riding bicycles, and five were driving/riding an ATV. Four of the five ATV drivers were under age 13.

In 2008, twenty-three deaths were classified as Undetermined. In some cases, although every effort was made to determine why a death occurred, there was no way to ascertain a cause of death. Other cases revealed incomplete investigations or law enforcement agencies not being informed of the death. In some instances, autopsies were not performed or were incomplete, or toxicology reports on the victim were not requested.

To learn more about fatality statistics from 2008 and the Board’s public policy recommendations, visit the Board’s website.