Can Child Deaths Be Prevented? The Arizona Child Fatality Review Program Experience

Objective. To determine the causes and preventability of child deaths; to assess the accuracy of death certificate information; and to assess the number of child abuse deaths that are misdiagnosed as deaths attributable to natural or accidental causes. Methods. Analysis of deaths of children Results. From 1995–1999, local multidisciplinary child fatality review teams (CFRTs) have reviewed 95% of all deaths of children Most deaths attributable to medical conditions occurred in the first year of life. Prematurity was the most common medical condition (1036 deaths) followed by congenital anomalies (662 deaths) and infectious diseases (470 deaths). Some of the reasons why CFRTs believed a medical death was preventable included inadequate emergency medical services, poor continuity of care, and delay in seeking care because of lack of health insurance. There were 4 deaths resulting from infections that were vaccine-preventable. There were 263 deaths attributable to sudden infant death syndrome. Only 38 of these infants were found lying on their back; 35 were found lying on their side. The death rate from sudden infant death syndrome decreased from 1.1 per 1000 infants From 1995–1999, 317 Arizona children died from gun shot wounds. Most of these deaths were homicides (175) or suicides (109). All suicide deaths occurred in children >9 years old, and 77% of these children were >14 years old. The typical suicide victim was male (83%) and used a gun (70%) to kill himself. After review by the CFRTs, it was determined that 5 of the 67 child abuse deaths were misdiagnosed as attributable to natural or accidental causes on the death certificate. In 3 of these 5 cases, the child was in a persistent vegetative state and died many years after the episode of child abuse. Although inaction or inappropriate action by Child Protective Services (CPS) is often thought to be the cause of child abuse deaths, the ACFRP determined that in 79% of child abuse deaths, there had been no previous CPS involvement with the child’s family. Although 61% of child abuse deaths were considered to be preventable, much of the responsibility for preventing these deaths rests with community members (eg, relatives, neighbors) who were aware of the abuse but failed to report the family to CPS. The CFRTs, who had received training in the proper completion of death certificates, reported that the cause of death was incorrect on 13% of all death certificates and in 16 cases, the CFRTs disagreed with the medical examiner on the manner of death (eg, natural, accidental, undetermined). Because CFRTs have access to additional information that may not have been available to the physician who completes a child’s death certificate, CFRTs may be able to more accurately determine the cause and manner of death than the physician who completed the death certificate. Conclusions. Arizona’s child death rate is above the national average (82.16/100 000), but the ACFRP determined that many of these deaths could have been prevented by using known prevention strategies (eg, child safety restraints, pool fencing). Most child mortality data are based on death certificate information that often is incorrect and cannot be used to assess preventability. Although most states have child fatality review programs that review suspected child abuse deaths,