Accidental deaths among children under age 20 declined 29 percent from 2000 to 2009, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but deaths from poisoning and suffocation increased substantially.

The analysis, published last week in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, found that the overall injury death rate in this group dropped to 11.0 per 100,000 in 2009 from 15.5 in 2000.

Poisoning deaths increased 80 percent, and 57 percent of them involved prescription drugs. Deaths from suffocation rose 30 percent, mostly in infants.

Automobile deaths declined sharply because of improvements in seat belt and child safety seat use, stricter licensing requirements, better vehicle design and reductions in drunken driving. But crashes remained the leading cause of injury deaths in children.