Smoke alarms, fire deaths, and randomised controlled trials
- Ian Roberts, Director,
- Carolyn Diguiseppi, Senior Research Fellow
- Child Health Monitoring Unit, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford Street, London WC1N 1EH, UK (e-mail: Ian.Roberts@ich.ucl.ac.uk)
Each year about 300 000 people die in fires.1 Most of these deaths occur in the home and children and the elderly are at greatest risk.1 The absence of a smoke alarm is a strong risk factor for death in the event of a house fire.2 In some countries, there has been a substantial increase in the proportion of households with smoke alarms over the past two decades. In England and Wales, the proportion of homes with alarms increased from 0% in 1985 to 75% in 1995. This increase in alarms coincided with a substantial fall in fire deaths, although a number of factors apart from smoke alarms might have been responsible for the decline.3 Despite the overall increase in smoke alarm use, ownership is substantially lower (less than 50%) in disadvantaged inner city neighbourhoods and among families living in rented accommodation.4 Because the risk of fire and fire related injury is greater in rented and inner city accommodation,5, 6 increasing the prevalence of functioning smoke alarms in these homes may have a disproportionate effect on the occurrence of fire deaths and injuries. This would also have the potential to reduce socioeconomic differentials in …
