CHILD SAFETY SEAT USE IN 7 ITALIAN REGION S

Road accidents are one of the most important, but also one of the most preventable, causes of death and disability in infancy; therefore the Italian law provided that children under five must be transported in the car restrained in safety seats. But we have little information abo ut the compliance of the families; so during a survey on infant health status carried out ill 7 Italian regions in 1993, we evaluated the us e of child restraints for babies from 12 to 23 months. The babies were selected with a cluster sampling design. There is a great inter-regio nal variability of the safety sent use: from 30-35% of continuous and regular use in Napoli and Campania region to 88% in Toscana region. Th e Lee is strongly associated with family education level and other pre ventive behaviours, sich as vaccinations, bur the interregional variab ility cannot be explained by family education Ievel. The child restrai nt law was neglected in some areas of the country; this fact may be as sociated with pool rise of safety belts by the parents. It needs to in troduce more attention during the paediatric counselling, particularly when parents are not educated or they don't use safety belt for thems elves. Recently a law revision removed the obligatoriness of safety se nt for under four passengers; the physicians should be on watch when p oliticians make decisions about preventive measures.