Risk factors of Non-fatal Unintentional Home Injuries among Children under 5 Years Old; a Population-Based Study

• Main Authors: Sedigheh Nouhjah, Sharareh R. Niakan Kalhori, Azadeh Saki
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences 2016-12-01
• Series: Emergency
• Subjects: home injuries; child, preschool; risk factors; injury prediction; risk reduction
• Online Access: http://journals.sbmu.ac.ir/emergency/article/view/10125
• ISSN: 2345-4563; 2345-4571

Introduction: In addition to the annual mortality rate, unintentional home injury may result in temporary or<br />permanent disability and requires medical attention and continuous care in millions of children. This study<br />aimed to explore features and risk factors of these injuries. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, demographic<br />variables and epidemiologic pattern of home injuries among children under 5 years of age were collected via a<br />population-based survey in sevenmain cities of Khuzestan province, southwest Iran, during September 2011 to<br />December 2012. Developing a risk stratification model, independent risk factors of unintentional home injury<br />were determined and put to multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results: 2693 children with the mean age<br />of 27.36 § 15.55 months (1 to 60) were evaluated (50.9% boy). 827 (30.7%) cases had a history of at least one<br />home injury occurrence since birth to study time. The most common injury mechanisms were burning with 291<br />(38.4%) cases, falling with 214 (28.3%) and poisoning with 66 (8.7%) cases, respectively. The independent risk<br />factors of unintentional home injury were age ¸ 24 month (p&lt;0.001), residency in Ahvaz city (p&lt;0.001), mother’s<br />illiteracy (p&lt;0.014), ethnicity (p&lt;0.001), private housing (p=0.01), birthweight (p&lt;0.001), and being the first child<br />(p=0. 01). Sensitivity, specificity, and area under the ROC curve of the model designed by multivariate analysis<br />were 53.5%, 84.8%, and 0.75 (95% CI: 0.73- 0.77; P &lt; 0.001, figure 1), respectively. Conclusion: According to<br />the findings of this study, 30.7% of the studied children were injured at least once since birth. Burning, falling,<br />poisoning, swallowing objects, choking, and biting were the main home injury mechanisms. Age ¸ 24 months,<br />being the first child, living in a private house, being a resident of Ahvaz city, and having an illiterate mother were<br />found to be risk factors of home injury.