Updating the evidence. A systematic review of what works in preventing childhood unintentional injuries: Part 1

In the last 10 years there has been considerable progress in the science and art of injury prevention. The scientific study of what works in different fields of health care and health promotion has expanded, and evidence-led policy development has dominated health planning. We have collected evidence on evaluated intervention studies related to childhood injury prevention since 1992, and published reviews in 1993 and 1996.1,2 This paper updates this evidence. We attempt to answer three questions: 1. Have there been any changes in the evidence relating to the effectiveness of childhood injury prevention? 2. What additions have been made to the literature, relating to the target groups and implementation strategies of interventions? 3. What additions have been made to the literature, relating to the ways interventions have been evaluated? A database of primary studies has been built up over the years in the Department of Child Health in the University of Newcastle. We identified the relevant literature by a search of computerised databases (for example, BIDS, Medline, Excerpta Medica, the DHSS database, the Social Science Research Index, Web of Science, Transport Research Laboratory databases). This was supplemented by …