Abstract：ObjectiveTo study the trend of accidental death among children under five in Zhejiang Province during the last ten years, and further to provide preventive strategies for reducing the accidental mortality in the region.MethodsBy stratified cluster random sampling, all the children under five from 30 sampling areas of Zhejiang Province from 2005 to 2014 were enrolled. The accidental injury mortalities were investigated by descriptive analysis and chi-square test for linear trend.ResultsThe under-five mortality caused by accidental death demonstrated a decreased trend in Zhejiang Province between 2005 and 2014, from 2.52‰ in 2005 to 1.48‰ in 2014. During 2005 to 2014, the accidental mortality rate caused by accidental injuries of neonatal was reduced by 70.05%, 1-11 months old by 45.60%, and 1-4 years old by 31.63% with statistical significance (P<0.05). The major cause of accidental death among infants was accidental asphyxia. The top cause in 1-4 years old children was drowning, followed by traffic incidents and falls. The accidental mortality rate in rural regions decreased faster than that in urban regions. Compared with the resident population, decreasing was slower in cause-mortality rate in floating population. The gap between resident and floating population became wider from 2005 to 2014.ConclusionAccidental injuries are the most critical mortal factors to children under five. The prevention programs should be carried out especially on the floating population. The prevention of accidental asphyxia is critical to infants, while drowning and traffic incidents is critical to 1-4 years old children.
