Falls, poisonings, burns, and road traffic injuries in urban Peruvian children and adolescents: a community based study
- 1Asociación Benéfica PRISMA, San Miguel, Lima, Perú
- 2Laboratorio de Investigación de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, San Martín de Porras, Lima, Perú
- 3Tufts University, School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- 4Imperial College London, Wellcome Centre for Clinical Tropical Medicine, Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunity, Faculty of Medicine, London, UK
- Correspondence to Dr J Donroe, Av Carlos Gonzales 251 Urbanizacion Maranga, San Miguel, Lima 32, Peru; jdonroe{at}gmail.com
- Accepted 27 May 2009
Abstract
Objectives: To identify individual and household characteristics associated with serious falls, poisonings, burns and road traffic injuries (RTIs) for children in Lima, Peru.
Methods: 5061 households consisting of 10 210 children were included in this community based, cross-sectional study in San Juan de Miraflores (SJM), a low income, urban district of Lima, Peru. Households were eligible if there was a consenting adult and at least one resident child aged ≤18 years. A door to door survey was conducted in SJM, collecting childhood injury, demographic, and socioeconomic data. Analysis was done at the individual and household level for injuries severe enough to have required medical consultation.
Results: The greatest burden of injury was from falls and RTIs. For individuals, male gender and age were the most important predictors of injuries. Households in which multiple injuries were reported were more likely to be poor (odds ratio (OR) 1.66, 95% CI 1.24 to 2.22) and overcrowded (OR 1.88, 95% CI 1.20 to 2.94). The occurrence of serious falls, poisonings, burns, and pedestrian RTIs significantly increased the likelihood of a second serious injury in the home (adjusted ORs ranged between 1.88 and 2.99).
Conclusion: All children from households in which an unintentional injury has occurred appear to have an increased likelihood of future injury; such high risk households may be readily identifiable in the clinical setting. Interventions in this environment designed to prevent subsequent injuries merit further investigation.
Footnotes
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The survey is published online only at http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/vol15/issue6
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Contributorship The authors contributed to the paper as follows: JD conceived and designed the study, acquired, analysed, and interpreted the data, and drafted the manuscript. He is the guarantor of the research. RHG contributed to the design of the study, logistical elements, and critical review of the manuscript. DB contributed to the design of the study, interpretation of the data, and critical review of the manuscript. MM guided the statistical analysis and interpretation of results. DAJM participated in the design of the study, interpretation of data, and critical review of the manuscript. Lilia Cabrera, Gladys Oña, Mercedes Mendoza, Carmen Loza, Jessica Peña, Karina Sànchez, Alejandrina Sànchez, and Maria Luisa Navarette contributed to the collection of data.
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Funding The study was funded in part by the Tutorial in Tropical Health at JHU/Peru Overseas Sites Grant (5T35AI007646) and the Fogarty International Center/Ellison Medical Foundation Overseas Fellowships in Global Health and Clinical Research. DAJM is supported by the Wellcome Trust. The authors’ work was independent of the funders.
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Competing interests None.
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Ethics approval Ethics approval was obtained.
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Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
