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MICHIGAN CHILD HEALTH AND SAFETY RISK SURVEY, 2001:
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
Executive Summary
To collect information about health conditions as well as health and safety risk behaviors, the
Office for Survey Research at the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research, Michigan State
University conducted the Michigan Child Health and Safety Risk Survey (MCHSRS). The
survey recruited a total of 522 households with at least one child one through 14 years of age by
telephone from December 2000 to May 2001. A knowledgeable adult in each household served
as the respondent. The data were weighted to reflect all children aged 1-14 years in Michigan.
Key findings of MCHSRS include:
•
34.3% of households with a child 1-14 years of age, had a special health need or condition,
including medication/special dietary needs, that have lasted for one year or more.
•
4.8% of children aged 1-14 years reportedly did not have health insurance, of whom 20.9%
had been without insurance for five or more years.
•
8.7% of the children reportedly had not seen a dentist in the past 24 months or had never
seen a dentist; an additional 7.4% reported that their children had not seen a dentist during
the past 12 months. Of the children who had not seen a dentist during the past 24 months or
had never seen a dentist, 34.3% of the respondents said they had no insurance and it costs too
much, 20.4% said they were too busy or did not have the time, and 10.7% said they did not
know the child should see a dentist.
•
35.8% of the children aged one through three years reportedly had gone to bed at least
occasionally with a bottle of juice, formula milk, or other liquid besides water, which is a
dental health hazard.
• Asthma or reactive airway disease was the most common special health condition, affecting
12.6%, or 255,754, of Michigan children aged 1-14 years.
•
26% of the children aged 1-14 years lived in households where firearms were in or around
the home. Of these children, 81.0% lived in households where all of the firearms were
effectively l