Methamphetamines: A Deadly Factor In Annual Child Fatality Review Report

Methamphetamine use was identified as a preventable factor in one out of every five maltreatment deaths of a child last year, according to a report released on November 29, 2005 by the Arizona Childhood Fatality Review Team. In 2004, there were 40 child deaths associated with maltreatment, and drug or alcohol use was noted to be a factor in 55 percent of the maltreatment deaths. Whats more, the Review Team found that drug and alcohol abuse was the most frequently identified factor associated with all preventable childhood deaths last year. The majority of homicides, and one fourth of the suicide and motor vehicle crash deaths also involved drugs or alcohol. Substance abuse cuts across age, class, gender, ethnic and racial lines, ASU professor and Child Fatality Team chair Dr. Mary Rimsza said. The Child Fatality team recommends several strategies to combat the problem, including increased availability of substance abuse treatment programs for parents and strengthening measures to decrease accessibility to amphetamine precursors (such as pseudoephedrine) in retail stores. The mission of the Arizona Child Fatality Review Program is to reduce child fatalities by identifying preventable child deaths through case reviews. A childs death is considered to be preventable if an individual or the community could reasonably have done something that would have changed the circumstances that led to the childs death. Of the 1,031 total deaths in 2004 reviewed for the report, 30 percent were determined to be preventable. Every death of a child in Arizona is a profound loss to parents, family and the community, Arizona Department of Health Services Director Susan Gerard said. The child fatality review process is an opportunity to learn about the causes and circumstances of child death in order to prevent deaths in the future. In other findings: * The most common natural cause of death was prematurity, which resulted in 271 deaths in 2004. * 20 percent (204) of childhood fatalities in 2004 resulted from an accidental injury. * 31 drowning deaths of children occurred in 2004. * Use of drugs or alcohol contributed to 10 percent (102) of all child deaths in Arizona. * Lack of adequate supervision contributed to the deaths of 79 children. * Motor vehicle crashes resulted in the deaths of 132 children in Arizona. * Of those 132 children, 64 victims were not properly restrained. A copy of the full report is available on the Web at http://www.azdhs.gov/phs/owch/cfr.htm.