An epidemiological study on home injuries among children of 0-14 years in South Delhi.

Background: Injuries are an important public health problem worldwide, accounting for 5 million deaths, of which unintentional injuries account for 0.8 million deaths in children. Though there are many factors responsible for injury in the home, the environment plays an important role.

Objectives: The objectives were to study the magnitude and pattern of home injuries in children aged 0-14 years and to assess the environmental risk associated with home injuries.

Methods: A community-based, cross-sectional study was conducted in 2015 in a ward of Mehrauli containing 20,800 households, and the total sample of children was selected from 400 households by systematic random sampling, with sampling interval being 52. Information was taken using a predesigned, semi-structured, pretested proforma from both the parents and children. The data collected were analyzed using SPSS version 12.

Results: : The prevalence of home injury was found to be 39.7% in the last 1 year, significantly higher in the age group of 1-3 years (54.3%) followed by 5-10 years (45.1%) (P = 0.000). The total number of injuries and the average number of injuries in girls were significantly higher than those of boys. The most common type of home injury was falls (59.5%) followed by injury with sharps and burn injury. The environmental risk was assessed using standard and working definitions and found unsafe electrical points (95.3%), unsafe stairs (100%), unsafe kitchen with access to sharps (29.3%), access to active fire (19.3%), and unsafe furniture and objects (22.8%).

Conclusion: Though home injury did not occur in 60% of the children during the study period, the risk of injury in the future is high. Educating the parents and the children at schools and environmental modification are important strategies for prevention of home injury.