Risk and protective factors for falls on one level in young children: multicentre case-control study

Benford, P.; Young, B.; Coupland, C.; Watson, M.; Hindmarch, P.; Hayes, M.; Goodenough, T.; Majsak-Newman, G.; Kendrick, D.

Abstract

Background: Childhood falls are an important global public health problem, but there is a lack of evidence about their prevention. Falls on one level result in considerable morbidity and they are costly to health services.

Objective: To estimate odds ratios for falls on one level in children aged 0-4 years for a range of safety behaviours, safety equipment use and home hazards.

Design, setting and participants: Multicentre case-control study at hospitals, minor injury units and general practices in and around 4 UK study centres. Participants included 582 children less than 5 years of age with a medically attended fall injury occurring at home and 2460 controls matched on age, sex, calendar time and study centre.

Main outcome measure: Fall on one level.

Results: Cases’ most common injuries were bangs on the head (52%), cuts or grazes not needing stitches (29%) or cuts or grazes needing stitches (17%). Comparing cases to community controls in the adjusted analyses, significant findings were observed for only 2 exposures. Injured children were significantly less likely to live in a household without furniture corner covers (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 0.72, 95%CI 0.55, 0.95), or without rugs and carpets firmly fixed to the floor (AOR 0.76, 95% CI 0.59, 0.98).

Conclusions: We did not find any safety practices, use of safety equipment or home hazards associated with a reduced risk of fall on one level. Our findings do not provide evidence to support changes to current injury prevention practice.

Citation

Benford, P., Young, B., Coupland, C., Watson, M., Hindmarch, P., Hayes, M., …Kendrick, D. (2015). Risk and protective factors for falls on one level in young children: multicentre case-control study. Injury Prevention, 21(6), https://doi.org/10.1136/injuryprev-2015-041581

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Dec 1, 2015
• Deposit Date: Sep 10, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 1, 2015
• Journal: Injury Prevention
• Print ISSN: 1353-8047
• Electronic ISSN: 1475-5785
• Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 21
• Issue: 6
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/injuryprev-2015-041581
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/980710
• Publisher URL: http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/21/6/381.abstract
• Related Public URLs: http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/early/2015/08/13/injuryprev-2015-041581.full
• Additional Information: This article has been accepted for publication in Injury Prevention following peer review. The definitive copyedited, typeset version: Benford P, et al. Risk and protective factors for falls on one level in young children: multicentre case-control study. Injury Prevention 2015;21:381-388 is available online at: http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/21/6/381.abstract