What is killing Valley youth?

Homicides, crashes rank as top causes in Mahoning Co.

STAFF REPORT

YOUNGSTOWN — The most deadly times in the lives of Mahoning County children in 2006 were their first month of existence, and between ages 15 and 17.

The primary cause of death in newborns was prematurity, and the main causes of death for youth ages 15 through 17 were homicides and motor vehicle accidents, according to a report issued by the Mahoning County Child Fatality Review Board.

In 2006, 31 children died in Mahoning County. Five were the victims of homicides, and four were killed in motor vehicle crashes.

The review board was created in 2000 to track child deaths in the county, identify the causes and risk factors involved, and recommend ways to reduce the number of future deaths, said Matthew Stefanak, chairman of the child fatality board and Mahoning County health commissioner.

“We know that the deaths of many of these children were preventable. Our community has made great progress in reducing the number of infant deaths in the last several years,” said Stefanak, noting that child deaths declined slightly more than 50 percent between 2006 and 1992, when 65 children died in the county.

Part of that is attributable to a community awareness program on safe sleeping surfaces for children and pushing, along with other groups, the graduated teen driving license law.

“Too many children were falling behind the cushions or being rolled on by adults on the couch and suffocating, and too many teens were dying while driving or as a passenger of a teen driver,” he said.

“We can only hope that homicide, suicide and other injury-related deaths will also decline,” he said.

In addition to tracking the number and causes of child deaths, the review board, with the help of a licensed counselor from the Mahoning County Family and Children First Council, looked more in depth at eight of the 2006 deaths.

These deeper reviews were triggered by one or more of the following circumstances: Death was caused by an injury, intentional or unintentional; death was unattended by a physician; death was investigated by a coroner; and when requested by any child fatality review board participant.

Of the eight reviewed, five were homicides, one died in a motor vehicle crash, one of heart disease, and one of undetermined causes.

The review board has made several recommendations aimed at preventing child deaths. They are: support for school-based adolescent suicide-prevention programs; promoting a safe sleeping environment for infants; strengthening graduated driver licensing for teens; enforcement of firearms possession laws; strengthening vehicle seat belt and child booster seat laws; and involving law enforcement agencies in the child death review process.

The review board’s full report is available on the Mahoning County District Board of Health Reports/Annual Reports page of its Web site at www.mahoning-health.org.