Injury and social correlates among in-school adolescents in four Southeast Asian countries

The aim of this study was to determine estimates of the prevalence and social correlates of injury among adolescents in four Southeast Asian countries. Cross-sectional national data from the Global School-based Health Survey (GSHS) included 9,333 students at the ages from 13 to 15 years inclusive from Indonesia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand is chosen by a two-stage cluster sample design to represent all students in grades 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 in each country. The percentage of adolescents reporting one or more serious injuries within the past 12 months was 42.2% for all countries, ranging from 27.0% in Myanmar to 46.8% in Thailand. By major activity, fall (14.6%) was the leading external cause of injury, followed by playing or training for a sport (9.9%) and vehicle accident (6.1%). In multivariate regression analysis Thailand and Indonesia, being male, substance use (smoking and drinking alcohol) and psychological distress were associated with annual injury prevalence. Risk factors of substance use and psychological distress should be considered in an integrated approach to injury etiology in planning injury prevention and safety promotion activities among school children.