Sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, κ value and percentage agreement between the questionnaire responses and observations related to falls
| Practice | Sensitivity (95% CI) | Specificity (95% CI) | PPV (95% CI) | NPV (95% CI) | κ Value (95% CI) | % Agreement |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Has stair gate at top of stairs* [3] | 90.4 (81.9 to 95.7) | 73.8 (61.5 to 84.0) | 81.5 (72.1 to 88.9) | 85.7† (73.8 to 93.6) | 0.65 (0.53 to 0.78) | 83.1 (76.1 to 88.8) |
| Has stair gate at bottom of stairs* [6] | 91.5 (81.3 to 97.2) | 82.6 (72.9 to 89.9) | 78.3 (66.7 to 87.3) | 93.4† (85.3 to 97.8) | 0.72 (0.61 to 0.83) | 86.2 (79.5 to 91.4) |
| Has other safety gates in the house* [0] | 42.1 (29.1 to 55.9) | 95.7 (89.5 to 98.8) | 85.7‡ (67.3 to 96.0) | 73.2 (64.4 to 80.8) | 0.42 (0.28 to 0.56) | 75.5 (67.8 to 82.1) |
| Stairs are carpeted*[1] | 98.6 (95.0 to 99.8) | 75.0 (34.9 to 96.8) | 98.6‡ (95.0 to 99.8) | 75.0 (34.9 to 96.8) | 0.74 (0.49 to 0.98) | 97.3 (93.3 to 99.7) |
| Presence of landing part-way up stairs* [2] | 73.3 (61.9 to 82.9) | 85.1 (75.0 to 92.3) | 83.3‡ (72.1 to 91.4) | 75.9 (65.3 to 84.6) | 0.58 (0.46 to 0.71) | 79.2 (71.8 to 85.4) |
| Presence of banisters on all stairs*[8] | 91.0 (82.4 to 96.3) | 36.9 (25.3 to 49.8) | 63.4 (53.8 to 72.3) | 77.4† (58.9 to 90.4) | 0.29 (0.15 to 0.43) | 66.4 (58.1 to 74.1) |
| Presence of handrails on all stairs* [6] | 87.7 (76.3 to 94.9) | 51.1 (40.2 to 61.9) | 53.8 (43.1 to 64.2) | 86.5† (74.2 to 94.4) | 0.35 (0.22 to 0.48) | 65.5 (57.2 to 73.2) |
| Use of corner covers on any furniture [0] | 70.6 (44.0 to 89.7) | 85.5 (78.7 to 90.8) | 36.4 (20.4 to 54.9) | 96.1† (91.2 to 98.7) | 0.40 (0.21 to 0.58) | 84.0 (77.4 to 89.2) |
| Use of baby walker§ [1] | 57.1 (28.9 to 82.3) | 76.3 (67.4 to 83.8) | 22.9 (10.4 to 40.1) | 93.5† (86.5 to 97.6) | 0.20 (0.03 to 0.38) | 74.2 (65.7 to 81.5) |
| Use of stationary play centre§ [2] | 60.0 (32.3 to 83.7) | 82.1 (73.8 to 88.7) | 31.0 (15.3 to 50.8) | 93.9† (87.1 to 97.7) | 0.30 (0.10 to 0.50) | 79.5 (71.5 to 86.2) |
| Use of play pen§ [2] | 80.0 (28.4 to 99.5) | 95.9 (90.7 to 98.7) | 44.4 (13.7 to 78.8) | 99.2† (95.4 to 100) | 0.55 (0.23 to 0.87) | 95.3 (90.0 to 98.2 |
| Use of travel cot instead of a playpen§ [1] | 50.0 (18.7 to 81.3) | 93.2 (87.1 to 97.0) | 38.5 (13.9 to 68.4) | 95.7† (90.1 to 98.6) | 0.38 (0.11 to 0.65) | 89.8 (83.3 to 94.5) |
[ ] missing values.
*Questions only asked of those with stairs (n=151).
†A higher proportion of respondents over-reported than under-reported safe practice (NPV exceeds PPV).
‡A higher proportion of respondents under-reported than over-reported safe practice (PPV exceeds NPV).
§These practices were only asked for children aged ≤36 months (n=129).