CSN Monthly Bulletin

Home Injuries

December 2005

This bulletin comes to you from the Children's Safety Network through CSN Discuss, an electronic forum for the discussion of child and adolescent injury and violence prevention and related issues.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

News and Developments
  1. U.S.-Canada agreement on consumer product safety
  2. CPSC reminder about choosing safe gifts during the holiday season
Articles and Reports
  1. Article: Fatal residential injuries among American children and adolescents
  2. Article: Evaluation of the effectiveness of a baby walker safety standard
  3. Article: Home injuries mortality in the United States
  4. Article: Home injuries morbidity in the United States
  5. Article: Risk and protective factors for fires, burns, and carbon monoxide poisoning
  6. Commentary: Home safety recommendations based on latest research
Home Injuries Resource from CSN
  1. Web resource: CSN hurricane resources
State Activities
  1. Fire safety curricula in Virginia

Availability

Copies of many items can be delivered to state Maternal and Child Health and state public health staff upon request. Articles available by e-mail are so indicated. Some other articles can be faxed or mailed. To request an article or other publication, e-mail jhudson@edc.org with the item name, delivery preference (e-mail, fax number, or mailing address). This service is restricted to state Maternal and Child Health and state public health staff. Restricted time and resources forbids us from delivering articles to others. URLs of publications that can be downloaded from the web are included in the bibliographic information.

NEWS AND DEVELOPMENTS

  1. U.S.-Canada agreement on consumer product safety

    2. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced an agreement with the Canadian government to improve consumer safety in the United States and Canadian marketplaces. The agreement is part of the “security and prosperity partnership” that includes the United States, Canada and Mexico. This agreement calls for increasing harmonization of safety standards and exchanging more information on safety research and other findings. The CPSC is negotiating with its Mexican counterpart, PROFECO, to reach a similar agreement.

    The CPSC press release on this agreement can be found at http://www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PREREL/prhtml05/05212.html.

    The full text of the agreement is available at http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml05/05212.pdf PDF Document

  2. CPSC reminder about choosing safe gifts during the holiday season

    3. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has issued its annual reminder to parents to choose safe gifts for their children this holiday season. CPSC guidelines for choosing appropriate and safe gifts, a link to a website of products (including toys) that have been recalled because of safety concerns, and guidance on reporting a dangerous toy or product-related injury to the CPSC, can be found at http://cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml06/06041.html

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ARTICLES AND REPORTS

  1. Nagaraja J, Menkedick J, Phelan KJ, Ashley P, Zhang X, Lanphear BP.
    Deaths from residential injuries in US children and adolescents, 1985-1997.
    Pediatrics. 2005 Aug;116(2):454-61.

    This study used National Vital Statistics System mortality data to determine the incidence and trends of deaths of children and adolescents from injuries in the home environment. The study found that, from 1985 to 1997, an average of 55 percent of annual unintentional deaths in U.S. children with a known location of injury resulted from injuries in the home. Over this period, the annual number of fatal residential injuries decreased by about 22 percent. The fatal residential injury rates were highest in children who were younger than 1 year and 1 to 4 years old. Black children were 2 times more likely to die from residential injuries than white children. The highest death rates were attributed to fires, submersion or suffocation, poisoning, and falls.

    Availability: e-mail or hard copy.

  2. Rodgers GB, Leland EW.
    An evaluation of the effectiveness of a baby walker safety standard to prevent stair-fall injuries.
    Journal of Safety Research. 2005;36(4):327-32.

    During the early 1990s the number of baby walker injuries treated in U.S. hospital emergency departments averaged almost 25,000 annually. About 80 percent of these injuries resulted from falls down stairs. Since 1994, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) worked with industry to develop requirements to address the stair-fall hazard. This CPSC study evaluates the effectiveness of these requirements, which became effective in 1997 as part of a revised voluntary standard. The stair-fall requirements reduced the emergency department injury rate by an estimated 63 percent.

    Availability: Hard copy only.

  3. Runyan CW, Casteel C, Perkis D, Black C, Marshall SW, Johnson RM, Coyne-Beasley T, Waller AE, Viswanathan S.
    Unintentional injuries in the home in the United States part I: Mortality.
    American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2005 Jan;28(1):73-9.

    This study used data from the National Vital Statistics System to calculate average annual rates for unintentional home injury deaths from 1992 to 1999, for the United States overall, and by mechanism of injury, gender, and age group. It found that an average of 18,048 unintentional home injury deaths occurred annually over this period. Home injury deaths varied by age and gender, with males having higher rates of home injury death than females, and older adults having higher rates than other age groups. Falls, poisoning, and fire/burn injuries were the leading causes of home injury death. Rates of fall death were highest for older adults, poisoning deaths were highest among middle-aged adults, and fire/burn death rates were highest among children.

    Availability: email or hard copy

  4. Runyan CW, Perkis D, Marshall SW, Johnson RM, Coyne-Beasley T, Waller AE, Black C, Baccaglini L.
    Unintentional injuries in the home in the United States part II: Morbidity.
    American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2005 Jan;28(1):80-7.

    This University of North Carolina study used data from the National Health Interview Survey, National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, and National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Surveys for Outpatient and Emergency Departments to quantify and describe nonfatal injuries occurring in the home. It computed the nonfatal unintentional home injury rate for 1998-99 for the United States overall, as well as by type of injury, gender, and age group. It found that during this period there were more than 12 million unintentional home injuries requiring some form of medical attention. Falls were the most common injury among all age groups, followed by cutting/piercing injuries, and injuries associated with being struck by or against an object or person. Injury rates were highest among the oldest and youngest age groups.

    Availability: email or hard copy

  5. Runyan CW, Johnson RM, Yang J, Waller AE, Perkis D, Marshall SW, Coyne-Beasley T, McGee KS.
    Risk and protective factors for fires, burns, and carbon monoxide poisoning in U.S. households.
    American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2005 Jan;28(1):102-8.

    This University of North Carolina study was based on a random-digit-dial survey was conducted with 1003 respondents representing households in the continental United States. It assessed the prevalence of risk and protective factors for fires, burns, and carbon monoxide overall, and by demographic characteristics, household structure, region, and residential tenure. It found that although 97 percent of respondents reported having a smoke alarm and 80 percent reported having one on each level of their home, less then 20 percent reported checking the alarm at least every 3 months. Seventy-one percent reported having a fire extinguisher, 29 percent had a carbon monoxide detector, and 51 percent of those living with at least one other person had a fire escape plan.

    Availability: email or hard copy

  6. Runyan CW, Marshall SW, Coyne-Beasley T, Casteel C.
    Recommendations for home safety research and intervention.
    American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2005 Jan;28(1):116-8.

    This commentary summarizes research efforts of the University of North Carolina Injury Prevention Research Center, the Home Safety Council and the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation on unintentional injuries in the home and presents recommendations addressing the future of home safety research and interventions. These recommendations include the following:

    1. Improve the quality of existing sources of mortality and morbidity data.
    2. Advance research on risk and protective factors associated with home injury.
    3. Evaluate the effectiveness and implementation of home safety interventions.
    4. Target fall prevention.
    5. Establish a national effort to improve coordination and communication among key stakeholder organizations concerned with the safety of homes in the United States.

    Availability: email or hard copy

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HOME INJURIES PREVENTION RESOURCE FROM CSN

  1. CSN hurricane resources: Preventing injuries and disease. A new page on the CSN website

    This collection of resources addresses public health issues associated with hurricanes in the Gulf coast region. CSN will update this list as more resources become available. Home injury prevention resources available through this page include guidelines on protection from carbon monoxide poisoning after an emergency from the CDC and information on the role of public health in responding to hurricanes by the National Association of County and City Health Officials.

    This resource is available at http://www.childrenssafetynetwork.org/hurricane_csn/

STATE ACTIVITIES

  1. Virginia Department of Fire Programs Kids: A public fire safety education initiative.

    Virginia Department of Fire Programs (VDFP) Kids Initiative focuses on three broad fire safety themes: 1) installing and testing smoke alarms; 2) planning and practicing escape routes; and 3) hunting for home hazards. Each theme addresses major safety concerns for children in grades K-12. The initiative is intended to complement existing programs such as the National Fire Protection Association's RiskWatch and Learn not to Burn.

    Additional information about the initiative and educational modules for children on these themes are available at http://www.vafire.com/kidscampaign.htm

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The next CSN Discuss Bulletin will focus on traffic injuries.

Please direct questions about this bulletin to Irene Simon at:
Children's Safety Network
Education Development Center
55 Chapel Street
Newton, MA 02458
http://www.childrenssafetynetwork.org/
Phone: 617-618-2420
Fax: 617-969-9186
E-mail: isimon@edc.org