Left-handedness as a risk factor for unintentional injury in children
Graham, C.J.; Dick, R.; Rickert, V.I.; Glenn, R.
Pediatrics 92(6): 823-826
1993
ISSN/ISBN: 0031-4005 PMID: 8233744 Document Number: 413734
Objective. To determine whether left-handedness is a risk factor for unintentional injury among children and adolescents. Design. Case-control study. Setting. Pediatric emergency department of Arkansas Children's Hospital. Patients. 265 patients sustaining unintentional trauma aged 6 to 18 years and 494 control patients who did not have trauma were given a questionnaire to determine handedness, past unintentional injury, and parental perception of injury proneness. Results. The frequency of left-handedness in the trauma group (18.1%) was significantly greater than frequency of 10.5% in the control group (P lt .003, odds ratio = 1.80, 95% confidence interval 1.20 to 2.72). Multivariate analysis revealed handedness as the only significant variable between trauma and control (P lt .04). The proportion of left-handers who had been hospitalized previously for injury treatment (20.0%) was larger than the proportion of right-handers, (12.0%) (P lt .026, odds ratio = 1.84, 95% confidence interval 1.03 to 3.27). More parents of left-handers rated their child as "more clumsy than average" than parents of right-handers (26.0% vs 15.2%, P lt .007). Conclusions. Left-handedness appears to be a risk factor for unintentional injury in children and adolescents in a pediatric emergency department population.