Prevention of injuries at home
- Review Group Co-ordinator Coahrane Injuries Group, Nutrition & Public Health Intervention Research Unit, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Room 280, North Countryard, Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT, UK; Katharine.Ker@lshtm.ac.uk
The home is one of the most common settings in which injuries are sustained, with young children and the elderly being at most risk. In the UK, the number of deaths resulting from injuries in the home exceeds the number resulting from road-traffic crashes.1 In Australia, it is estimated that for the year 2002, 41.5% of all fatal injuries occurred at home.2 It is therefore unsurprising that the home environment receives attention as a setting for interventions in prevention of injuries, and subsequently there have been a number of Cochrane Systematic Reviews published on the topic, summarized below.
MODIFICATION OF THE HOME ENVIRONMENT FOR THE REDUCTION OF INJURIES
This review by Lyons et al3 examined all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of interventions which focus on reducing physical hazards within the home. The authors identified 19 eligible trials, two of which investigated a home environment modification as the sole intervention with the remaining 17 using a combined approach with other strategies. Overall, the authors found …
