Prevalence and Associated Factors Accounting for In‐School Adolescents' Serious Injuries in Bolivia: A Population‐Based Cross‐Sectional Survey

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background and Aim Serious injuries are harmful actions and conduct that can contribute to serious health problems among adolescents in schools. Serious injuries account for a significant proportion of the global burden of disease in adolescents. Given the limited information on the Bolivian context, the current study aims to examine the prevalence of this phenomenon and its associated factors among school‐age adolescents in Bolivia. Methods A cross‐sectional design was used to draw data from the 2018 Bolivia Global School‐Based Student Health Survey. This survey used a self‐administered questionnaire to collect data on adolescents' health behaviors and protective factors in Bolivia. Pearson's χ 2 and binomial logistic regression were used for the analyses. Results The prevalence of serious injuries among 7822 Bolivian in‐school adolescents was 51.9%, with male (52%) and female (52.8%) participants experiencing serious injuries, respectively. The odds of serious injuries were significantly higher among males than females (AOR = 1.249, CI = 1.133–1.377), those in Grades 1–3 than 4–5 (AOR = 1.337, CI = 1.170–1.529), those who were mostly hungry (AOR = 1.299, CI = 1.024–1.648), current alcohol users (AOR = 1.283, CI = 1.136–1.449) and those who ever got drunk with alcohol (AOR = 1.200, CI = 1.055–1.365). Also, the risk of serious injuries was high among physically attacked victims (AOR = 1.756, CI = 1.568–1.965), those who engaged in physical fights (AOR = 1.642, CI = 1.468–1.838), those who were bullied outside school (AOR = 1.236, CI = 1.089–1.403), suicide attempters (AOR = 1.289, CI = 1.118–1.487), and those who had multiple sexual partners (AOR = 1.157, CI = 1.007–1.329). Conclusions There is a high prevalence of serious injuries among in‐school adolescents in Bolivia. More prevention‐based policies and intervention programmes are required to decrease the occurrence of severe injuries among this cohort.