The danger of premature graduation to seat belts for young children

Objective. To determine the risk of significant injury associated with prem ature graduation of young (2- to 5-year-old) children to seat belts from ch ild restraint systems (CRS). Background. Advocates recommend use of child safety seats for children youn ger than age 4 and booster seats for children age 4 and older. Despite thes e recommendations, many children are prematurely taken out of these child r estraints and placed in seat belts. Although data exist to support the use of child restraints over nonrestraint, no real-world data exist to evaluate the risk of significant injury associated with premature use of seat belts . Design/Methods. Partners for Child Passenger Safety includes a child-focuse d crash surveillance system based on a representative sample of children ag es 0 to 15 years in crashes involving 1990 and newer vehicles reported to S tate Farm Insurance Companies in 15 states and the District of Columbia. Dr iver reports of crash circumstances and parent reports of child occupant in jury were collected via telephone interview using validated surveys. Results were weighted based on sampling frequencies to represent the entire population. Results. Between December 1, 1998, and November 30, 1999, 2077 children aged 2 to 5 years were included and were weighted to represent 13 853 children. Among these young children, 98% were restrained, but nearly 40% of these children were restrained in seat belts. Compared with children in CRS, children in seat belts were more likely to s uffer a significant injury (relative risk: 3.5; 95% confidence interval: [2 .4, 5.2]). Children in seat belts were at particular risk of significant he ad injuries (relative risk: 4.2; 95% confidence interval: [2.6, 6.7]) when compared with children in CRS. Conclusions. Premature graduation of young children from CRS to seat belts puts them at greatly increased risk of injury in crashes. A major benefit o f CRS is a reduction in head injuries, potentially attributable to a reduct ion in the amount of head excursion in a crash.