Home safety education and provision of safety equipment for injury prevention

Follow-up household assessment for child unintentional injuries two years after the intervention: A community-based study from Karachi, Pakistan

BACKGROUND

Unintentional childhood injuries are a growing public health concern, and the home is the most common location for non-fatal injuries in children less than 5 years of age. This study describes the long-term effects of two injury prevention educational interventions for caregivers-an educational pamphlet and an in-home tutorial guide-by comparing the change in the prevalence of home injury hazards before and after the interventions.

METHODS

This was a pre- (June and July 2010) and post-study with short-term follow-up (November-December 2010) and long-term follow-up (November 2012- January 2013). Neighborhood one included households that received only educational pamphlets after completing a baseline assessment; neighborhood two included households that received an in-home tutorial guide after completing the baseline assessment and receiving the educational pamphlet. The main outcome of this study was the reduction in home injury hazards for children under 5 years of age.

RESULTS

A total of 312 households participated in the long-term phase to compare the effect of the interventions. Between the short-term to long-term follow-up, injury hazards significantly reduced in neighborhood two compared to neighborhood one. These included fall hazards (walker use) (IRR 0.24 [95% CI 0.08-0.71]), drowning hazards (open bucket of water in the courtyard and uncovered water pool) (IRR 0.45 [95% CI 0.85-0.98] and IRR 0.46 [95% CI 0.76-0.94]), burn hazards (iron, water heater within reach of child) (IRR 0.56 [95% CI 0.33-0.78] and IRR 0.58 [95% CI 0.32-0.91]), poisoning hazards (shampoo/soap and medicine within reach of child) (IRR 0.53 [95% CI 0.44-0.77] and IRR 0.7 [95% CI 0.44-0.98]) and breakable objects within reach of child (IRR 0.62 [95% CI: 0.39-0.99]).

CONCLUSION

An injury prevention tutorial to caretakers of children supplemented with pamphlets could significantly decrease the incidence of falls, drowning, burns, poisoning, and cut injury hazards for children under 5 years of age in their homes in a low-resource setting. This intervention has the potential to be integrated in existing public health programs, such as Lady Health Visitors (LHVs), to disseminate injury prevention information in routine home health visits.

The epidemiology of in-hospital burn patients in a tertiary hospital in Damascus, Syria. A retrospective cohort study

BACKGROUND

Syria has been facing a dreadful crisis for the past 11 years, which has had a significant toll on the healthcare system of the country, and its ability to adequately manage acute injuries. In this research, we study the epidemiology and outcomes of burn patients admitted to the burn center of Al-Mouwasat Hospital in Damascus, Syria.

METHODS

A retrospective cohort research was conducted from January 2017 to December 2021. All accessible paper-based medical records of burn injury patients admitted to the hospital were evaluated. ABSI score was used to classify injury degrees. Chi-square test and logistic regression model were used to study the association between demographic variables and outcomes.

RESULTS

Of the 641 patients, 367 (57.3%) were males and 274 (42.7%) were females. Children represented more than half of our sample 377 (58.8%). The most common cause of burns was flame 393 (61.3%), followed by scalding 199 (31.0%). Most of the patients had a more than 10% TBSA of burns 511 (79.7%). 209 (32.6%) patients had a moderate ABSI score, followed by moderately severe in 149 (23.2%) patients. Children, patients who had high ABSI scores, and those who needed respiratory support were more likely to die than others 2.545 (1.079-6.004), 9.208 (4.061-20.879), respectively.

CONCLUSION

Death was the outcome of third of the hospitalized patients. Furthermore, Children made up more than half of the sample, and had the highest rates of leaving the hospital against medical advice. These results underline the importance of an updated nationally uniformed protocol for the management of burn patients.

Stay-at-home, Safe at Home? A survey of parental home safety practices before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND

To slow the spread of COVID-19, many nonessential businesses, daycares, and schools closed, and areas imposed "stay-at-home" orders. Closures led to young children spending more time at home, traditionally, the place where more than one-half of unintentional pediatric injuries occur. The objective of the current study was to describe parental safety perceptions and confidence, safety device purchase and installation, and injury prevention practices and behaviors, in homes with children 6 years of age and younger, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

A cross-sectional survey with a convenience sample of US participants, 18 years or older, was conducted from November 2020 to February 2021. Parents of children (≤ 6 years) were recruited via social media ads and posts on Facebook and Twitter and invited to complete an anonymous, online survey about their home safety practices before and during the COVID-19 stay-at-home order. Upon completion, parents could participate in a prize drawing to receive one of five $100 gift cards.

RESULTS

A total of 499 participants completed the survey. Most (47.9%) were 45-54 years of age and reported the amount of time at home increased for them (93.9%) and their children (90.6%) during the stay-at-home period. Thirty-seven percent (36.9%) of parents considered their homes safe but recognized room for improvement and felt confident in their ability to make their homes safe for their children (72.8%). From the time before until the COVID-19 stay-at-home orders were in place, parents increased their home injury prevention practices (42.3%). Parents that had identified unsafe areas in the home before the stay-at-home order were significantly more likely to increase their safety behaviors, take childproofing actions, and purchase or install safety devices during the stay-at-home order (p < 0.0001). Parents with younger children (5 years) were significantly more likely than parents with older children to take childproofing actions (p < .0001) including purchasing and installing safety devices (p < 0.0001).

CONCLUSIONS

Spending more time at home during the COVID-19 pandemic may have helped the sampled parents, especially those with younger children, identify unsafe areas in their homes and encourage them to modify their behaviors, and purchase and install safety devices to help make their homes safer for their children.

A Bayesian approach to discrete multiple outcome network meta-analysis

In this paper we suggest a new Bayesian approach to network meta-analysis for the case of discrete multiple outcomes. The joint distribution of the discrete outcomes is modeled through a Gaussian copula with binomial marginals. The remaining elements of the hierarchial random effects model are specified in a standard way, with the logit of the success probabilities given by the sum of a baseline log-odds and random effects comparing the log-odds of each treatment against the reference and having a Gaussian distribution centered at the vector of pooled effects. An adaptive Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithm is devised for running posterior inference. The model is applied to two datasets from Cochrane reviews, already analysed in two papers so to assess and compare its performance. We implemented the model in a freely available R package called netcopula.

Hospitalised burns in children up to 16 years old: A 10-year population-based study in Australia

AIM

Globally, burns remain a significant public health issue that disproportionately affect young children. The current study examines the 10-year epidemiological profile of burn hospitalisations, hospital treatment cost and health outcomes by age group for children ≤16 years in Australia.

METHODS

National, population-based, linked hospital and mortality data from 1 July 2002 to 30 June 2012 were used to identify burn-related hospitalisations. Age-standardised hospitalisation rates and hospital treatment costs were estimated.

RESULTS

There were 25 098 children aged ≤16 years hospitalised after sustaining a burn. The age-standardised hospitalisation rate was 54.4 per 100 000 (95% confidence interval (CI): 53.7-55.1). Children aged 1-5 years had the highest burn hospitalisation rate (105.6 per 100 000; 95% CI: 103.8-107.3). The burn hospitalisation rate of infants <1 year declined by 3.1% per annum (95% CI: -4.84, -1.37, P < 0.001). Contact with heat and other substances, hot drinks, food, fats and cooking oils was the most common burn mechanism, and the home was the most common place of occurrence for children ≤10 years. Exposure to the ignition of highly flammable material was the most common burn mechanism for children aged 11-16 years. There were 7260 hospital readmissions within 28 days and 11 deaths within 30 days of the index burn hospitalisation. Total hospital treatment costs were estimated at $168 million.

CONCLUSIONS

Childhood burns continue to account for a large proportion of hospitalised morbidity. To assist in reducing burn hospitalisations, the development, implementation and resourcing of national multi-sectorial childhood injury prevention is needed in Australia.

Qualitative and Quantitative Evaluation of the Make Safe Happen App: Mobile Technology-Based Safety Behavior Change Intervention for Parents

BACKGROUND

Nearly half of the unintentional injuries in children happen in and around the home; many of these injuries are preventable. Providing parents and caregivers with proper injury prevention information that is easily accessible may help them make their homes safer for children.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to evaluate parental injury prevention awareness and home safety behaviors, motivations for and challenges to taking injury prevention and safety actions for parents as well as user experience following the use of the Make Safe Happen mobile app.

METHODS

A total of 40 parents with children aged 0-12 years living in Columbus, Ohio, participated in 1 of 5 focus group discussions following the completion of (1) a pretest survey, (2) use of the Make Safe Happen app, and (3) a posttest survey.

RESULTS

Following the use of the Make Safe Happen app, parents reported a significant increase in injury prevention awareness and completed 45% more home safety behaviors in and around their homes. Nearly all of the parents felt the app provided them with the information needed to make their home safer for their children; the great majority of parents intended to make such changes in the future.

CONCLUSIONS

The combination of qualitative and quantitative data collection allowed for rich data capture and provided a deeper understanding of parents' safety knowledge, behaviors, app use, and decision making regarding child injury prevention in and around the home. The Make Safe Happen app provides the information and motivation parents and caregivers need to help them take steps to prevent child injuries that may occur in and around their homes.

Social Determinants of Health and Home Safety for Under-five Children in a Neighbor's Tehran, Iran

Background:

Social determinants of health (SDH) provide a platform in improving health society such as safety. Safety is essential for children because it is directly related to the health and development. The objective of this study was to evaluate the current home safety in the capital city of Iran for children below five years by community-based initiative and its association with common SDH variables.

Methods:

This is a cross-sectional study, considering community- and family-based initiative. According this five domains checklist which was including physical, kitchen, bath, toys, and first-aid kit, 200 family home safety were evaluated. Moreover, the relation between children safety and social determinants of health was assessed. Furthermore, the research team designed an attractive record card for each child that was distributed among families by community volunteers.

Results:

The result was extracted into two age groups: less and more than 6 months. We designed an attractive card for each child and distributed among families by volunteers. It showed that children of age above 6 months had higher home safety score. We found a positive association between mother's education and total safety score.

Conclusions:

This study was a part of MAZDAK project which means friendly environment for children in Persian word. It showed that an effective way for promoting children safety in the community would be community engagement and family cooperation. As the family education can help reduce children injuries, MAZDAK as a model can been run in the other places to check the effects of SDH on home safety for children. This was an experience of improving community knowledge and behavior about home safety by the parents themselves to improve their children safety environment, and it is going to continue the efficacy of Intervention.

Unintentional Injury, Supervision, and Discourses on Childproofing Devices

Unintentional injury prevention research focuses on parental supervision as critical to reducing toddler injury. We examine how the promotion of childproofing-as a mode of supervision-sells mothers "peace of mind" while also increasing "intensive mothering" and the "privatization of risk." Drawing on the childproofing literature and meaning centered interviews with mothers of toddlers and childproofing business owners, we argue that the connection made by these groups between childproofing and "good parenting" ultimately obscures how this form of harm reduction economically and socially individualizes responsibility for child care.

Effect of community-based intervention on knowledge, attitude, and self-efficacy toward home injuries among Egyptian rural mothers having preschool children

BACKGROUND

Parent's level of knowledge, state of their attitude, and their self-efficacy are the most incriminated reasons for the faulty application of the first aid measures, particularly in children's home injuries.

OBJECTIVES

To assess the effect of a health education intervention on improving knowledge, attitude and self- efficacy of mothers having preschool children about home injuries and the basic first aid measures.

METHODS

A pre-posttest evaluation of the effect of a health education intervention on changing knowledge, attitude, and self-efficacy about home injuries and the basic first aid measures of 244 rural Egyptian mothers having preschool children.

RESULTS

About 35% of the male children had home injuries 8 weeks earlier to the study. Mean score of total knowledge increased from 10.21±3.1 in pretest to 18.90 ± 2.6 in posttest, total attitude from 6.19±1.8 to 10.26±2.3 and self-efficacy from 20.75±6.1 to 34.43 ± 10.1 with (p < 0.001) for all changes. Age, education level and previous home injuries were the significant predicting factors for total knowledge, attitude and self- efficacy of the mothers.

CONCLUSION

Health education improves knowledge, attitude, and self-efficacy of the mothers which were obvious regarding home injuries than first aid measures. There is a need for including knowledge about home injuries in the educational curriculum of high schools and universities and to perform training courses to mothers about first aid measures.

Housing tenure as a focus for reducing inequalities in the home safety environment: evidence from Growing Up in New Zealand

OBJECTIVES

To determine whether specific demographic characteristics are associated with the presence or absence of household safety strategies.

METHODS

This study was conducted within Growing Up in New Zealand, a contemporary longitudinal study of New Zealand (NZ) children. Multivariable analyses were used to examine the maternal (self-prioritised ethnicity, education, age, self-reported health) and household (area-level deprivation, tenure, crowding, residential mobility, dwelling type) determinants of household safety strategies being present in the homes of young children.

RESULTS

In comparison to family-owned homes, privately owned rental homes were less likely (OR=0.78; 95%CI 0.65-0.92), and government-owned rental homes were more likely (OR=1.74, 95%CI 1.25-2.41) to have eight or more household safety strategies present.

CONCLUSIONS

Living in a privately owned rental home in NZ exposes children to an environment where there are fewer household safety strategies in place. Implications for public health: Housing tenure provides a clear target focus for improving the household safety environment for NZ children.

Volunteer driven home safety intervention results in significant reduction in pediatric injuries: A model for community based injury reduction

BACKGROUND

Home based injuries account for a significant number of injuries to children between 1 and 5years old. Evidence-based safety interventions delivered in the home with installation of safety equipment have been demonstrated to reduce injury rates. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of a community based volunteer implemented home safety intervention.

METHODS

In partnership with a community with high injury rates for children between 1 and 5years old, a home safety bundle was developed and implemented by volunteers. The safety bundle included installing evidence based safety equipment. Monthly community emergency room attended injury rates as well as emergency room attended injuries occurring in intervention and nonintervention homes was tracked throughout the study.

RESULTS

Between May 2012 and May 2014 a total of 207 homes with children 1-5years old received the home safety bundle. The baseline monthly emergency room attended injury rate for children aged 1-5years within our target community was 11.3/1000 and that within our county was 8.7/1000. Following the intervention current rates are now 10.3/1000 and 9.2/1000 respectively. Within intervention homes the injury rate decreased to 4.2/1000 while the rate in the homes not receiving the intervention experienced an increase in injury rate to 12/1000 (p<0.05). When observed vs. expected injuries were examined the intervention group demonstrated 59% fewer injuries while the nonintervention group demonstrated a 6% increase (p<0.05).

CONCLUSION

Children in homes that received a volunteer-provided, free home safety bundle experienced 59% fewer injuries than would have been expected. By partnering with community leaders and organizing volunteers, proven home safety interventions were successfully provided to 207 homes during a two-year period, and a decline in community injury rates for children younger than 5years was observed compared to county wide injury rates.

Epidemiology of children with head injury: a national overview

BACKGROUND

The National Confidential Enquiry describes the epidemiology of children admitted to hospital with head injury.

METHOD

Children (<15 years old) who died or were admitted for >4 h with head injury were identified from 216 UK hospitals (1 September 2009 to 28 February 2010). Data were collected using standard proformas and entered on to a database. A descriptive analysis of the causal mechanisms, child demographics, neurological impairment, CT findings, and outcome at 72 h are provided.

RESULTS

Details of 5700 children, median age 4 years (range 0-14.9 years), were analysed; 1093 (19.2%) were <1 year old, 3500 (61.4%) were boys. There was a significant association of head injury with social deprivation 39.7/100 000 (95% CI 37.0 to 42.6) in the least deprived first quintile vs. 55.1 (95% CI 52.1 to 58.2) in the most deprived fifth quintile (p<0.01). Twenty-four children died (0.4%). Most children were admitted for one night or less; 4522 (79%) had a Glasgow Coma Scale score of 15 or were Alert (on AVPU (Alert, Voice, Pain, Unresponsive)). The most common causes of head injury were falls (3537 (62.1%); children <5 years), sports-related incidents (783 (13.7%); median age 12.4 years), or motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) (401 (7.1%); primary-school-aged children). CT scans were performed in 1734 (30.4%) children; 536 (30.9%) were abnormal (skull fracture and/or intracranial injury or abnormality): 269 (7.6%) were falls, 82 (10.5%) sports related and 100 (25%). A total of 357 (6.2%) children were referred to social care because of child protection concerns (median age 9 months (range 0-14.9 years)).

CONCLUSIONS

The data described highlight priorities for targeted age-specific head injury prevention and have the potential to provide a baseline to evaluate the effects of regional trauma networks (2012) and National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) head injury guidelines (2014), which were revised after the study was completed.

Mothers' awareness towards child injuries and injury prevention at home: an intervention study

BACKGROUND

Most injuries to young children happen in the home. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate if extended individual information to mothers' related to injury to children in the home and possible preventative actions has any effect on their awareness of the problem and if Sense of Coherence has an influence.

METHODS

This was a quasi-experimental designed intervention study with a comparison group. Extended individual information with empowerment as the approach was used.

RESULTS

Ninety-nine mothers of children under the age of 7 months participate. A questionnaire with sociodemographic data and questions regarding awareness towards prevention was used. Mothers who took part in the intervention significantly increased their awareness of the fact that child injuries take place at home when compared with the mothers in the comparison group, [OR 2.3, CI 1.3-4.3]. However, no significant improvement of awareness towards prevention was noted, neither any association to the mothers' SOC-scores.

CONCLUSION

This study showed that the intervention had a positive effect on mothers' awareness towards the fact that child injuries are taking place at home, but it did not increase the mothers' awareness towards prevention of child injury.

Translating an Evidence-Based Injury Prevention Program for Implementation in a Home Visitation Setting

Safe N' Sound (SNS), a computer-based childhood injury prevention program, provides individually tailored information to parents about their child's injury risks with specific behavioral recommendations. We translated SNS for implementation in a home visitation organization in order to increase its capacity to effectively address injury prevention and decrease the burden of injury experienced by high-need families. The aim of this study was to identify behavioral and organizational barriers and facilitators to translating and implementing SNS in a home visitation setting. Nurse home visitors (NHVs) participated in semistructured interviews that examined perceptions of program implementation, intervention characteristics, individual characteristics of NHVs, and recommendations for improving implementation. The utility of the program for promoting injury prevention systematically and its alignment with the organization's mission were facilitators of successful implementation. Barriers included NHVs' concerns about overburdening clients and missed educational opportunities related to injury risks not addressed by the program and delayed delivery of educational reports. Findings illustrate the dynamic interactions of intervention characteristics with organizational and individual factors and suggest that customizing implementation to organizational capacity and specific needs may better support successful program implementation in home visitation settings.

The effectiveness of different interventions to promote poison prevention behaviours in households with children: a network meta-analysis

Background

There is evidence from 2 previous meta-analyses that interventions to promote poison prevention behaviours are effective in increasing a range of poison prevention practices in households with children. The published meta-analyses compared any intervention against a “usual care or no intervention” which potentially limits the usefulness of the analysis to decision makers. We aim to use network meta-analysis to simultaneously evaluate the effectiveness of different interventions to increase prevalence of safe storage of i) Medicines only, ii) Other household products only, iii) Poisons (both medicines and non-medicines), iv) Poisonous plants; and v) Possession of poison control centre (PCC) telephone number in households with children.

Methods

Data on the effectiveness of poison prevention interventions was extracted from primary studies identified in 2 newly-undertaken systematic reviews. Effect estimates were pooled across studies using a random effects network meta-analysis model.

Results

28 of the 47 primary studies identified were included in the analysis. Compared to usual care intervention, the intervention with education and low cost/free equipment elements was most effective in promoting safe storage of medicines (odds ratio 2.51, 95% credible interval 1.01 to 6.00) while interventions with education, low cost/free equipment, home safety inspection and fitting components were most effective in promoting safe storage of other household products (2.52, 1.12 to 7.13), safe storage of poisons (11.10, 1.60 to 141.50) and possession of PCC number (38.82, 2.19 to 687.10). No one intervention package was more effective than the others in promoting safe storage of poisonous plants.

Conclusion

The most effective interventions varied by poison prevention practice, but education alone was not the most effective intervention for any poison prevention practice. Commissioners and providers of poison prevention interventions should tailor the interventions they commission or provide to the poison prevention practices they wish to promote.

Highlights

Network meta-analysis of multiple outcome measures accounting for borrowing of information across outcomes

Background

Network meta-analysis (NMA) enables simultaneous comparison of multiple treatments while preserving randomisation. When summarising evidence to inform an economic evaluation, it is important that the analysis accurately reflects the dependency structure within the data, as correlations between outcomes may have implication for estimating the net benefit associated with treatment. A multivariate NMA offers a framework for evaluating multiple treatments across multiple outcome measures while accounting for the correlation structure between outcomes.

Methods

The standard NMA model is extended to multiple outcome settings in two stages. In the first stage, information is borrowed across outcomes as well across studies through modelling the within-study and between-study correlation structure. In the second stage, we make use of the additional assumption that intervention effects are exchangeable between outcomes to predict effect estimates for all outcomes, including effect estimates on outcomes where evidence is either sparse or the treatment had not been considered by any one of the studies included in the analysis. We apply the methods to binary outcome data from a systematic review evaluating the effectiveness of nine home safety interventions on uptake of three poisoning prevention practices (safe storage of medicines, safe storage of other household products, and possession of poison centre control telephone number) in households with children. Analyses are conducted in WinBUGS using Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulations.

Results

Univariate and the first stage multivariate models produced broadly similar point estimates of intervention effects but the uncertainty around the multivariate estimates varied depending on the prior distribution specified for the between-study covariance structure. The second stage multivariate analyses produced more precise effect estimates while enabling intervention effects to be predicted for all outcomes, including intervention effects on outcomes not directly considered by the studies included in the analysis.

Conclusions

Accounting for the dependency between outcomes in a multivariate meta-analysis may or may not improve the precision of effect estimates from a network meta-analysis compared to analysing each outcome separately.

[Injury prevention in young children]

Epidemiological studies in Germany show that infants and toddlers are at most risk of injury and in need of protection. Of all children under the age of 15 years, they have the highest rates of fatal and severe injuries. Therefore, this article aims to show which injury prevention measures have been proven successful for this age group. International specialist recommendations are described and evidence-based knowledge of interventions is presented from the Cochrane Reviews. For the four most frequent child injury mechanisms (drowning, poisoning, burning, and falling), the World Health Organization recommends a set of measures covering legislation, regulations, changes of environment, education, and emergency medical care. Meta-analyses on the effectiveness of interventions related to safety at home conclude that informing parents personally (face-to-face) and in combination with free safety equipment (e.g., safety gates, smoke alarms) increased parents' safety practices significantly. This included advice on not using baby walkers. Multifaceted education programs for parents (e.g., visiting programs at home or in pediatric clinics) proved to have the highest effect in reducing home accidents to children. The prevention of injuries in young children should be driven by a multifaceted and data-based approach. Postnatal interventions (Frühe Hilfen) at the community level are especially useful to integrate accident prevention at home, because they are connected with family visiting programs.

Morbidity due trauma in children of the community of Paraisopolis, São Paulo, Brazil

Objective:

To identify the factors that determine unintentional injuries in children living in the community of Paraisopolis, in the city of São Paulo, Brazil.

Methods:

A cross-sectional and non-controlled study. Data collected during 4 consecutive months through questionnaires filled out for the Einstein Program in Paraisopolis Community included identification of the patient and his/her family, scholarity level, housing conditions, storage of hazardous products, access to the streets and concrete slab ceilings, supervision, and trauma mechanism involved. The observed data were treated as absolute and relative frequencies; χ², Fisher's exact test, Student's t test, and Mann-Whitney's tests were implemented, with a significance level of 5% (p<0.05).

Results:

A total of 1,490 questionnaires were analyzed. There was a predominance of trauma within boys (59.6%) and the medium age was 5.2 years. The predominant educational level of the parents was incomplete junior school education. The main caregiver identified was the mother (69.4%). Among the children that suffered trauma, 56.4% belonged to large families (≥6 people), lived in houses up to three rooms, and a family income up to R$ 1,000.00 (76.6%). Easy access to hazardous materials was considerable and free access to concrete slab ceilings was reported in 92.8% of the cases. The main trauma mechanisms were falls and burns. In this study, the child victim of a fall was aged under 5 years.

Conclusion:

Small children that live in a hazardous environment have a significant tendency to suffering trauma

Children at risk of medicinal and non-medicinal poisoning: a population-based case-control study in general practice

BACKGROUND

Preschool children have a high risk of poisoning. While medicines prescribed by primary care are potential poisoning agents, the risk factors for poisoning from medication are not well described.

AIM

To identify risk factors for medicinal and non-medicinal poisoning in preschool children.

DESIGN AND SETTING

Population-based nested case-control study using The Health Improvement Network primary care database 1988-2004.

METHOD

Conditional logistic regression was used to identify child, maternal, and social risk factors for medicinal (1316 cases) and non-medicinal poisoning (503 cases), using 17 709 controls matched on general practice.

RESULTS

Poisoning by medicines was independently associated with deprivation (test for trend P<0.001), maternal age (P<0.001), birth order (P<0.001), maternal alcohol misuse (odds ratio [OR] = 5.44, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.99 to 14.91), and perinatal depression (OR = 1.54, 95% CI = 1.26 to 1.88). Living in a household with two or more adults lowered the odds of injury compared to single-parent households (OR = 0.85, 95% CI = 0.74 to 0.96) and the odds varied by age, being highest in 2 year olds (OR = 9.61, 95% CI = 7.73 to 11.95). Non-medicinal poisoning was associated with deprivation (P = 0.001), maternal age (P<0.001), and birth order (P<0.001). The odds were raised in 1 year olds (OR = 5.44, 95% CI = 4.07 to 7.26) and 2 year olds (OR = 5.07, 95% CI = 3.73 to 6.90) compared to those aged <1 year.

CONCLUSION

Primary care data can be used to target interventions to children at risk of poisoning. This is pertinent when prescribing for children/family members, as prescribed medications may become poisoning agents. Prompt identification of maternal depression and alcohol misuse, and delivery of poisoning-prevention interventions at this stage may help prevent poisonings.

Home injury risks to young children in Karachi, Pakistan: a pilot study

OBJECTIVE

To pilot an in-home unintentional injury hazard assessment tool and to quantify potential injury risks for young children in a low-income urban setting.

METHODS

Two low-income neighbourhoods in Karachi, Pakistan, were mapped, and families with at least one child between the ages of 12 and 59 months were identified. Using existing available home injury risk information, an in-home injury risk assessment tool was drafted and tailored to the local setting. Home injury assessments were done in June-July 2010 after obtaining informed consent.

RESULTS

Approximately 75.4% of mothers were educated through at least grade 12. The main risks identified were stoves within the reach of the child (n=279, 55.5%), presence of open buckets in the bathroom (n=240, 47.7%) within the reach of the child, and pedestal fans accessible to the child (n=242, 48.1%). In terms of safety equipment, a first-aid box with any basic item was present in 70% of households, but only 4.8% of households had a fire extinguisher in the kitchen.

CONCLUSIONS

This was the first time that an in-home, all-unintentional injury risk assessment tool was tailored and applied in the context of a low-income community in Pakistan. There was a significant burden of hazards present in the homes in these communities, representing an important opportunity for injury prevention. This pilot may have future relevance to other LMICs where child injury prevention is a critical need.

Preventing childhood falls within the home: overview of systematic reviews and a systematic review of primary studies

In most countries falls are the most common medically attended childhood injury and the majority of injuries in pre-school children occur at home. Numerous systematic reviews have reviewed evidence of the effectiveness of falls prevention interventions, but this evidence has not been synthesised into an overview, making it difficult for policy makers and practitioners to easily access the evidence. To synthesise all available evidence, we conducted an overview of reviews of home safety interventions targeting childhood falls, extracted data from primary studies included in the reviews and supplemented this with a systematic review of primary studies published subsequent to the reviews. Bibliographic databases, websites, conference proceedings, journals and bibliographies of included studies were searched for systematic reviews of studies with experimental or controlled observational designs. Thirteen reviews were identified containing 24 primary studies. Searches for additional primary studies identified five further studies not included in reviews. Evidence of the effect of interventions on falls or fall injuries was sparse, with only one of three primary studies reporting this outcome finding a reduction in falls. Interventions were effective in promoting the use of safety gates and furniture corner covers. There was some evidence of a reduction in baby walker use. The effect on the use of window safety devices, non-slip bath mats/decals and the reduction of tripping hazards was mixed. There was limited evidence that interventions were effective in improving lighting in corridors, altering furniture layout and restricting access to roofs. Most interventions to prevent childhood falls at home have not been evaluated in terms of their effect on reducing falls. Policy makers and practitioners should promote use of safety gates and furniture covers and restriction of baby walker use. Further research evaluating the effect of interventions to reduce falls and falls-related injuries is urgently required.

Disseminating childhood home injury risk reduction information in Pakistan: results from a community-based pilot study

Background: Most childhood unintentional injuries occur in the home; however, very little home injury prevention information is tailored to developing countries. Utilizing our previously developed information dissemination tools and a hazard assessment checklist tailored to a low-income neighborhood in Pakistan, we pilot tested and compared the effectiveness of two dissemination tools. Methods: Two low-income neighborhoods were mapped, identifying families with a child aged between 12 and 59 months. In June and July 2010, all enrolled households underwent a home hazard assessment at the same time hazard reduction education was being given using an in-home tutorial or a pamphlet. A follow up assessment was conducted 4–5 months later. Results: 503 households were enrolled; 256 received a tutorial and 247 a pamphlet. The two groups differed significantly (p < 0.01) in level of maternal education and relationship of the child to the primary caregiver. However, when controlling for these variables, those receiving an in-home tutorial had a higher odds of hazard reduction than the pamphlet group for uncovered vats of water (OR 2.14, 95% CI: 1.28, 3.58), an open fire within reach of the child (OR 3.55, 95% CI: 1.80, 7.00), and inappropriately labeled cooking fuel containers (OR 1.86, 95% CI: 1.07, 3.25). Conclusions: This pilot project demonstrates the potential utility of using home-visit tutorials to decrease home hazards in a low-income neighborhood in Pakistan. A longer-term randomized study is needed to assess actual effectiveness of the use of allied health workers for home-based injury education and whether this results in decreased home injuries.

Housing interventions and control of injury-related structural deficiencies: a review of the evidence

Subject matter experts systematically reviewed evidence on the effectiveness of housing interventions that affect safety and injury outcomes, such as falls, fire-related injuries, burns, drowning, carbon monoxide poisoning, heat-related deaths, and noise-related harm, associated with structural housing deficiencies. Structural deficiencies were defined as those deficiencies for which a builder, landlord, or home-owner would take responsibility (ie, design, construction, installation, repair, monitoring). Three of the 17 interventions reviewed had sufficient evidence for implementation: installed, working smoke alarms; 4-sided isolation pool fencing; and preset safe hot water temperature. Five interventions needed more field evaluation, 8 needed formative research, and 1 was found to be ineffective. This evidence review shows that housing improvements are likely to help reduce burns and scalds, drowning in pools, and fire-related deaths and injuries.

Home safety and low-income urban housing quality

OBJECTIVES

Living in substandard housing may be one factor that increases the risk of fire and burn injuries in low-income urban environments. The purposes of this study are to (1) describe the frequency and characteristics of substandard housing in urban homes with young children and (2) explore the hypothesis that better housing quality is associated with a greater likelihood of having working smoke alarms and safe hot water temperatures.

METHODS

A total 246 caregivers of children ages 0 to 7 years were recruited from a pediatric emergency department and a well-child clinic. In-home observations were completed by using 46 items from the Housing and Urban Development's Housing Quality Standards.

RESULTS

Virtually all homes (99%) failed the housing quality measure. Items with the highest failure rates were those related to heating and cooling; walls, ceilings, and floors; and sanitation and safety domains. One working smoke alarm was observed in 82% of the homes, 42% had 1 on every level, and 62% had safe hot water temperatures. For every increase of 1 item in the number of housing quality items passed, the odds of having any working smoke alarm increased by 10%, the odds of having 1 on every level by 18%, and the odds of having safe hot water temperatures by 8%.

CONCLUSIONS

Many children may be at heightened risk for fire and scald burns by virtue of their home environment. Stronger collaboration between housing, health care, and injury prevention professionals is urgently needed to maximize opportunities to improve home safety.

Are boys and girls that different? An analysis of traumatic brain injury in children

INTRODUCTION

The Phillips Report on traumatic brain injury (TBI) in Ireland found that injury was more frequent in men and that gender differences were present in childhood. This study determined when gender differences emerge and examined the effect of gender on the mechanism of injury, injury type and severity and outcome.

METHODS

A national prospective, observational study was conducted over a 2-year period. All patients under 17 years of age referred to a neurosurgical service following TBI were included. Data on patient demographics, events surrounding injury, injury type and severity, patient management and outcome were collected from 'on-call' logbooks and neurosurgical admissions records.

RESULTS

342 patients were included. Falls were the leading cause of injury for both sexes. Boys' injuries tended to involve greater energy transfer and involved more risk-prone behaviour resulting in a higher rate of other (non-brain) injury and a higher mortality rate. Intentional injury occurred only in boys. While injury severity was similar for boys and girls, significant gender differences in injury type were present; extradural haematomas were significantly higher in boys (p=0.014) and subdural haematomas were significantly higher in girls (p=0.011). Mortality was 1.8% for girls and 4.3% for boys.

CONCLUSIONS

Falls were responsible for most TBI, the home is the most common place of injury and non-operable TBI was common. These findings relate to all children. Significant gender differences exist from infancy. Boys sustained injuries associated with a greater energy transfer, were less likely to use protective devices and more likely to be injured deliberately. This results in a different pattern of injury, higher levels of associated injury and a higher mortality rate.

Mixed treatment comparisons using aggregate and individual participant level data

Mixed treatment comparisons (MTC) extend the traditional pair-wise meta-analytic framework to synthesize information on more than two interventions. Although most MTCs use aggregate data (AD), a proportion of the evidence base might be available at the individual level (IPD). We develop a series of novel Bayesian statistical MTC models to allow for the simultaneous synthesis of IPD and AD, potentially incorporating study and individual level covariates. The effectiveness of different interventions to increase the provision of functioning smoke alarms in households with children was used as a motivating dataset. This included 20 studies (11 AD and 9 IPD), including 11 500 participants. Incorporating the IPD into the network allowed the inclusion of information on subject level covariates, which produced markedly more accurate treatment-covariate interaction estimates than an analysis solely on the AD from all studies. Including evidence at the IPD level in the MTC is desirable when exploring participant level covariates; even when IPD is available only for a fraction of the studies. Such modelling may not only reduce inconsistencies within networks of trials but also assist the estimation of intervention subgroup effects to guide more individualised treatment decisions.

Keeping children safe at home: protocol for three matched case-control studies of modifiable risk factors for falls

BACKGROUND

Childhood falls result in considerable morbidity, mortality and health service use. Despite this, little evidence exists on protective factors or effective falls prevention interventions in young children.

OBJECTIVES

To estimate ORs for three types of medically attended fall injuries in young children in relation to safety equipment, safety behaviours and hazard reduction and explore differential effects by child and family factors and injury severity.

DESIGN

Three multicentre case-control studies in UK hospitals with validation of parental reported exposures using home observations. Cases are aged 0-4 years with a medically attended fall injury occurring at home, matched on age and sex with community controls. Children attending hospital for other types of injury will serve as unmatched hospital controls. Matched analyses will use conditional logistic regression to adjust for potential confounding variables. Unmatched analyses will use unconditional logistic regression, adjusted for age, sex, deprivation and distance from hospital in addition to other confounders. Each study requires 496 cases and 1984 controls to detect an OR of 0.7, with 80% power, 5% significance level, a correlation between cases and controls of 0.1 and a range of exposure prevalences.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Falls on stairs, on one level and from furniture.

DISCUSSION

As the largest in the field to date, these case control studies will adjust for potential confounders, validate measures of exposure and investigate modifiable risk factors for specific falls injury mechanisms. Findings should enhance the evidence base for falls prevention for young children.

Childhood unintentional injuries: need for a community-based home injury risk assessments in pakistan

Background. A substantial proportion of the annual 875,000 childhood unintentional injury deaths occur in the home. Very few printed tools are available in South Asia for disseminating home injury prevention information. Methods. Three tools were planned: an injury hazard assessment tool appropriate for a developing country setting, an educational pamphlet highlighting strategies for reducing home injury hazards, and an in-home safety tutorial program to be delivered by a trained community health worker. Results. The three tools were successfully developed. Two intervention neighborhoods in Karachi, Pakistan, were mapped. The tools were pretested in this local setting and are now ready for pilot testing in an intervention study. Conclusion. Planning for an innovative, community-based pilot study takes considerable time and effort in a low-income setting like Pakistan. The primary outcome of the pre-testing phase of the study was the development of three important tools geared for low-income housing communities in Pakistan.

Population based estimates of non-fatal injuries in the capital of Iran

Background

Fatal injuries are at the top of the injury pyramid; however, non-fatal injuries are quite common and impose huge medical expenses on the population. Relying on hospital data will underestimate the incidence of non-fatal injuries. The aim of this study was to estimate the annual incidence and out of pocket medical expenses of all injuries in urban population of Tehran (the capital city of Iran).

Methods

Using the cluster random sampling approach, a household survey of residents of greater Tehran was performed on April 2008. At randomly selected residential locations, interviewers asked one adult person to report all injuries which have occurred during the past year for all household members, as well as the type of injury, place of occurrence, the activity, cause of accidents resulting in injuries, the amount of out of pocket medical expenses for injury, and whether they referred to hospital.

Results

This study included 2,450 households residing in Tehran during 2007-8. The annual incidence of all injuries was 188.7 (180.7-196.9), significant injuries needing any medical care was 68.8 (63.7-74.2), fractures was 19.3 (16.6 - 22.4), and injuries resulted in hospitalization was 16.7 (14.2 - 19.6) per 1000 population. The annual incidence of fatal injuries was 33 (7-96) per 100,000 Population. In children aged 15 or less, the annual incidence of all injuries was 137.2 (120.0 - 155.9), significant injuries needing any medical care was 64.2 (52.2 - 78.0), fractures was 21.8 (15.0 - 30.7), and injuries resulted in hospitalization was 6.8 (3.3 - 12.5) per 1000 population. The mean out of pocket medical expense for injuries was 19.9 USD.

Conclusion

This population based study showed that the real incidence of non-fatal injuries in the capital of Iran is more than the formal hospital-based estimates. These injuries impose non trivial medical and indirect cost on the community. The out of pocket medical expense of non-fatal injuries to Tehran population is estimated as 27 million USD per year. Effective strategies should be considered to minimize these injuries and decrease the great financial burden to public and the health system.

A randomized controlled trial of home injury hazard reduction: the HOME injury study

OBJECTIVE

To test the efficacy of installing safety devices in the homes of young children on total injury rates and on injuries deemed a priori modifiable by the installation of these devices.

DESIGN

A nested, prospective, randomized controlled trial.

SETTING

Indoor environment of housing units.

PARTICIPANTS

Mothers and their children from birth to 3 years old participating in the Home Observation and Measures of the Environment study. Among 8878 prenatal patients, 1263 (14.2%) were eligible, 413 (32.7%) agreed to participate, and 355 were randomly assigned to the intervention (n = 181) or control (n = 174) groups.

INTERVENTION

Installation of multiple passive measures (eg, stair gates, cabinet locks, and smoke detectors) to reduce exposure to injury hazards. Injury hazards were assessed at home visits by teams of trained research assistants using a validated survey.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE

Modifiable and medically attended injury (ie, telephone calls, office visits, and emergency visits for injury).

RESULTS

The mean age of children at intervention was 6.3 months. Injury hazards were reduced in the intervention homes but not in the control homes at 1 and 2 years (P < .004). There was no difference in the rate for all medically attended injuries in intervention children compared with controls: 14.3 injuries (95% confidence interval [CI], 9.7-21.1 injuries) vs 20.8 injuries (95% CI, 14.4-29.9 injuries) per 100 child-years (P = .17); but there was a significant reduction in the rate of modifiable medically attended injuries in intervention children compared with controls: 2.3 injuries (95% CI, 1.0-5.5 injuries) vs 7.7 injuries (95% CI, 4.2-14.2 injuries) per 100 child-years (P = .03).

CONCLUSION

An intervention to reduce exposure to hazards in homes led to a 70% reduction in the rate of modifiable medically attended injury.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00129324.

Fatal injuries in the slums of Nairobi and their risk factors: results from a matched case-control study

Injuries contribute significantly to the rising morbidity and mortality attributable to non-communicable diseases in the developing world. Unfortunately, active injury surveillance is lacking in many developing countries, including Kenya. This study aims to describe and identify causes of and risk factors for fatal injuries in two slums in Nairobi city using a demographic surveillance system framework. The causes of death are determined using verbal autopsies. We used a nested case-control study design with all deaths from injuries between 2003 and 2005 as cases. Two controls were randomly selected from the non-injury deaths over the same period and individually matched to each case on age and sex. We used conditional logistic regression modeling to identity individual- and community-level factors associated with fatal injuries. Intentional injuries accounted for about 51% and unintentional injuries accounted for 49% of all injuries. Homicides accounted for 91% of intentional injuries and 47% of all injury-related deaths. Firearms (23%) and road traffic crashes (22%) were the leading single causes of deaths due to injuries. About 15% of injuries were due to substance intoxication, particularly alcohol, which in this community comes from illicit brews and is at times contaminated with methanol. Results suggest that in the pervasively unsafe and insecure environment that characterizes the urban slums, ethnicity, residence, and area level factors contribute significantly to the risk of injury-related mortality.

Behavioral vaccines and evidence-based kernels: nonpharmaceutical approaches for the prevention of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders

In the United States the rates for some mental, emotional, and behavioral problems (MEBs) have objectively increased over the past 20 to 50 years. The attributes of a public health approach to the treatment of MEBs are defined in this article. Multiple examples of how public health approaches might reduce or prevent MEBs using low-cost evidence-based kernels, which are fundamental units of behavior, are discussed. Such kernels can be used repeatedly, which then act as "behavioral vaccines" to reduce morbidity or mortality and/or improve human wellbeing. The author calls for 6 key policy actions to improve MEBs in young people.

Home visits reduce the number of hazards for childhood home injuries in Karachi, Pakistan: a randomized controlled trial

Background

Although unintentional injuries are major causes of morbidity and mortality in less developed countries, they have received scant attention, and injury prevention policies and programs have just begun to be addressed systemically.

Aims

To reduce hazards associated with home injuries due to falls and ingestions through an injury prevention program administered by home visitors.

Methods

Non-blinded randomized controlled trial design of two interventions where one branch of the study group served as the control for the other in an urban neighborhood in Karachi, Pakistan. The study participants included 340 families with at least one child aged 3 years or less, discharged home from the Emergency Department following a visit for any reason other than an injury. The interventions included: (1) counseling to reduce falls; (2) counseling to reduce poisoning and choking. The primary outcome measure for each intervention was the relative risk of change in the home status from “unsafe” to “safe” after the intervention.

Results

There were 170 families in the fall prevention and 170 families in the ingestion prevention branch of the study. The percentage of homes deemed “safe” in which the families had received fall intervention counseling was 13.5% compared to 3.5% in the control group (relative risk 3.8; 95% CI: 1.5 to 10.0; p = 0.002), whereas the percentage of homes deemed “safe” in which the families had received the ingestions intervention counseling was 18.8% compared to 2.4% in the control group (relative risk 7.8; 95% CI: 2.4 to 25.3; p < 0.001). Effectiveness did not depend on education or the socioeconomic status of the study participants. The mean number of fall hazards was reduced from 3.1 at baseline to 2.4 in the fall intervention counseling group, and the mean number of ingestion hazards decreased from 2.3 to 1.9. (p < 0.001).

Conclusions

Our study demonstrates the effectiveness of an educational intervention aimed at improving the home safety practices of families with young children.

Burns in young children: a retrospective matched cohort study of health and developmental outcomes

BACKGROUND

Unintentional injuries are a major cause of death and disability in childhood. Most burns are unintentional, the majority occurring in pre-school children. Little is known about the outcomes of young children following burns. The purpose of this study was to examine the presenting features of burned children and compare their health and developmental outcomes with controls.

METHODS

Children under 3 years admitted to the Welsh Regional Burns Centre between September 1994 and August 1997 were studied up to their sixth birthday (final data collection 2003) to ascertain the nature, course and cause of their burn. One hundred and forty-five burned children were matched with 145 controls. Their physical, psychosocial and educational health status was compared. Retrospective data were gathered from hospital notes, social services, emergency department databases, child health surveillance records and schools.

RESULTS

Burns peaked at age 13-18 months were typically sustained by scalding, drink spillage and contact with hot objects. They occurred most frequently at mealtimes and 89.7% were judged to be unintentional. There was a high rate of non-attendance for follow-up - 24%. The families of children admitted with burns were more likely to have moved home than those of controls (P = 0.001). By age 6 significantly more cases were admitted to hospital with an unrelated condition (P = 0.018). There were no differences between the cases and controls in immunization status, development, school attendance and educational progress up to the age of 6 years (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

We found important findings in relation to unintentional injury prevention and also noted markers that may indicate inequalities in health service utilization between cases and controls. There were no major differences between developmental and educational outcomes in the two groups.

Validation of a HOME Injury Survey

BACKGROUND

There are no validated observational surveys to assess injury hazards in the home environment.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the reproducibility and reliability of a survey quantifying home injury hazards for children.

METHODS

A nested cohort of children in the intervention arm of the Home Observations and Measures of the Environment (HOME) Study trial were analysed. The number and density of hazards were quantified by research assistants in the homes of participants at a baseline visit (BHV) for four high-risk rooms (kitchen, main activity room, child's bathroom and child's bedroom) and stairways and later at an intervention planning visit (IPV) for the four high-risk rooms and entire household. Statistical analysis included Pearson correlation, Bland-Altman analysis of agreement, analysis of variance and kappa statistics.

RESULTS

There were 163 households with measurements at BHV and IPV. The number and density of hazards for the four high-risk rooms correlated significantly between BHV and IPV (r = 0.50 and 0.75, respectively). The number and density of hazards for the four high-risk rooms correlated significantly with that for the whole household at the IPV (r = 0.17 and 0.52, respectively). The number of injury hazards was significantly higher in the kitchen than in the other high-risk rooms, whereas density was highest in the child's bathroom. Inter-rater reliability between research assistants, as measured by the kappa statistic, was excellent with a mean of 0.81.

CONCLUSIONS

The HOME Injury Survey was a reliable and replicable tool for quantifying residential injury hazards. The density of injury hazards was a more stable and valid measure than the number of injury hazards.

'BeSAFE', effect-evaluation of internet-based, tailored safety information combined with personal counselling on parents' child safety behaviours: study design of a randomized controlled trial

Background

Injuries in or around the home are the most important cause of death among children aged 0-4 years old. It is also a major source of morbidity and loss of quality of life. In order to reduce the number of injuries, the Consumer Safety Institute introduced the use of Safety Information Leaflets in the Netherlands to provide safety education to parents of children aged 0-4 years. Despite current safety education, necessary safety behaviours are still not taken by a large number of parents, causing unnecessary risk of injury among young children. In an earlier study an E-health module with internet-based, tailored safety information was developed and applied. It concerns an advice for parents on safety behaviours in their homes regarding their child. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of this safety information combined with personal counselling on parents' child safety behaviours.

Methods/Design

Parents who are eligible for the regular well-child visit with their child at child age 5-8 months are invited to participate in this study. Participating parents are randomized into one of two groups: 1) internet-based, tailored safety information combined with personal counselling (intervention group), or 2) personal counselling using the Safety Information Leaflets of the Consumer Safety Institute in the Netherlands for children aged 12 to 24 months (control group). All parents receive safety information on safety topics regarding the prevention of falling, poisoning, drowning and burning. Parents of the intervention group will access the internet-based, tailored safety information module when their child is approximately 10 months old. After completion of the assessment questions, the program compiles a tailored safety advice. The parents are asked to devise and inscribe a personal implementation intention. During the next well-child visit, the Child Health Clinic professional will discuss this tailored safety information and the implementation intention with the parents. The control group will receive usual care, i.e. the provision of Safety Information Leaflets during their well-child visit at the child's age of 11 months.

Discussion

It is hypothesized that the intervention, internet-based, tailored safety information combined with personal counselling results in more parents' child safety behaviours.

Trial registration

Current Controlled Trials NTR1836

20 Years of Research on Socioeconomic Inequality and Children's-Unintentional Injuries Understanding the Cause-Specific Evidence at Hand

Injuries are one of the major causes of both death and social inequalities in health in children. This paper reviews and reflects on two decades of empirical studies (1990 to 2009) published in the peer-reviewed medical and public health literature on socioeconomic disparities as regards the five main causes of childhood unintentional injuries (i.e., traffic, drowning, poisoning, burns, falls). Studies have been conducted at both area and individual levels, the bulk of which deal with road traffic, burn, and fall injuries. As a whole and for each injury cause separately, their results support the notion that low socioeconomic status is greatly detrimental to child safety but not in all instances and settings. In light of variations between causes and, within causes, between settings and countries, it is emphasized that the prevention of inequities in child safety requires not only that proximal risk factors of injuries be tackled but also remote and fundamental ones inherent to poverty.

Does living density matter for nonfatal unintentional home injury in Asian urban settings? Evidence from Hong Kong

Injury is a major global disease burden for the twenty-first century. There are, however, few studies of unintentional household injury in Asian urban settings where living environments are characterized by extremely compact, high-living-density, multistory apartments. This study investigated the association between nonfatal unintentional household injuries with the resident's sociodemographic attributes and household characteristics in Hong Kong, the city with the world's highest population density. A cross-sectional retrospective recall study was conducted in May 2007 using a random telephone survey with a modified Chinese version of the World Health Organization Injury and Violence instrument. The study sample included 1,001 noninstitutionalized Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong residents of all ages, including foreign live-in domestic helpers. Multivariate regression was conducted to identify risk factors for nonfatal unintentional injuries in Hong Kong. Among a predominantly adult sample, household size and time spent at home were not associated with nonfatal unintentional household injuries in the general population in Hong Kong. The multivariate analyses indicated that female gender, owners of private homes, lower square footage of living space per person, and those with slip prevention devices in the bathroom were significantly associated with household injuries. Injured and noninjured groups were found to have adopted different injury prevention strategies toward household injuries. The results identified potential target groups for household injury prevention programs.

The health impacts of housing improvement: a systematic review of intervention studies from 1887 to 2007

OBJECTIVES

We conducted a systematic review of the health impacts of housing improvement.

METHODS

Forty-two bibliographic databases were searched for housing intervention studies from 1887 to 2007. Studies were appraised independently by H. T. and S. T. or E. S. for sources of bias. The data were tabulated and synthesized narratively, taking into account study quality.

RESULTS

Forty-five relevant studies were identified. Improvements in general, respiratory, and mental health were reported following warmth improvement measures, but these health improvements varied across studies. Varied health impacts were reported following housing-led neighborhood renewal. Studies from the developing world suggest that provision of basic housing amenities may lead to reduced illness. There were few reports of adverse health impacts following housing improvement. Some studies reported that the housing improvement was associated with positive impacts on socioeconomic determinants of health.

CONCLUSIONS

Housing improvements, especially warmth improvements, can generate health improvements; there is little evidence of detrimental health impacts. The potential for health benefits may depend on baseline housing conditions and careful targeting of the intervention. Investigation of socioeconomic impacts associated with housing improvement is needed to investigate the potential for longer-term health impacts.

Injuries in preschool classrooms

Purpose

The primary purpose of this paper is to examine the kinds of injuries that preschool teachers working in Indiana, USA, believed to be the most common in their preschool (3‐6 year olds) classrooms, the causes of such injuries, and the most important precautions they take to prevent them. Also examined are the measures the teachers take when an injury occurs.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 155 preschool teachers take part in the research by completing a questionnaire. The data are analyzed using basic descriptive statistics.

Findings

On the question of what constituted the most important classroom injury prevention measure, 26 percent of the respondents report “close supervision of children”, 24 percent select “ensuring classroom safety”, 23 percent pick “cautioning children”, 17 percent choose “setting and enforcing rules” in the classroom, 7 percent select “modeling for social behavior” and 3 percent “safe gross motor activities”. With respect to action taken when an injured occurs, 36.1 percent of the respondents report “first aid”, 15.5 percent “comforting children”, 11.6 percent “referring children to school nurse” and “writing injury report”, 10.3 percent “cautioning against running and pushing”, 8.4 percent “explaining injury to children” (8.4 percent) and 6.5 percent “checking the nature of injury”.

Originality/value

This study sheds light on injury causation in preschool classrooms as well as management of such injuries. Results from this data can be used in helping to improve preschool teachers' knowledge of injury in general and of classroom injury in particular.

Severe childhood burns in the Czech Republic: risk factors and prevention

OBJECTIVE

To assess risk factors for paediatric burn injuries in the Czech Republic and to suggest preventive measures.

METHODS

This study included all children aged 0-16 years hospitalized during 1993-2000 at the Prague Burn Centre and data from the Czech Ministry of Health on national paediatric burn hospitalizations during 1996-2006. Personal, equipment and environmental risk factors were identified from hospital records.

FINDINGS

The incidence of burn admissions among 0-14 year-olds increased from 85 to 96 per 100,000 between 1996 and 2006, mainly due to a 13% increase among 1-4 year-olds. Between 1993-2000 and 2006, the proportion of burn victims in the country hospitalized at the Prague Burn Centre increased from 9% to 21%. Detailed data were available on 1064 children (64% boys). Around 31% of all burn hospitalizations were in 1 year-olds. Some 79% of burns occurred at home: 70% in the kitchen, 14% in the living room or bedroom and 11% in the bathroom. Of the 18% occurring outdoors, 80% involved boys. Scalds from hot liquids accounted for 70% of all burns. The mean hospital stay was 22 days for boys and 18 days for girls.

CONCLUSION

Most burns involved scalds from hot liquids at home: beverages in kitchens and water in bathrooms. There is a need for passive preventive measures, such as redesigned domestic cooking and eating areas, safer electrical kettles and temperature control devices for bathrooms. Educational programmes should be developed for parents and caregivers. A national plan for child burn prevention with specific targets would be helpful.

Evidence synthesis as the key to more coherent and efficient research

Background

Systematic review and meta-analysis currently underpin much of evidence-based medicine. Such methodologies bring order to previous research, but future research planning remains relatively incoherent and inefficient.

Methods

To outline a framework for evaluation of health interventions, aimed at increasing coherence and efficiency through i) making better use of information contained within the existing evidence-base when designing future studies; and ii) maximising the information available and thus potentially reducing the need for future studies.

Results

The framework presented insists that an up-to-date meta-analysis of existing randomised controlled trials (RCTs) should always be considered before future trials are conducted. Such a meta-analysis should inform critical design issues such as sample size determination. The contexts in which the use of individual patient data meta-analysis and mixed treatment comparisons modelling may be beneficial before further RCTs are conducted are considered. Consideration should also be given to how any newly planned RCTs would contribute to the totality of evidence through its incorporation into an updated meta-analysis. We illustrate how new RCTs can have very low power to change inferences of an existing meta-analysis, particularly when between study heterogeneity is taken into consideration.

Conclusion

While the collation of existing evidence as the basis for clinical practice is now routine, a more coherent and efficient approach to planning future RCTs to strengthen the evidence base needs to be developed. The framework presented is a proposal for how this situation can be improved.