You are here

Article Text

Article menu
Download PDFPDF
Original Article
Disability and risk of non-fatal residential injuries among adults
  1. C J Vladutiu1,2,
  2. C Casteel1,2,
  3. C W Runyan1,2,3,4
  1. 1
    The University of North Carolina Injury Prevention Research Center, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
  2. 2
    Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
  3. 3
    Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
  4. 4
    Department of Pediatrics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
  1. C Vladutiu, 137 East Franklin Street, CB #7505, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7505, USA; cvladutiu{at}unc.edu

Abstract

Objective: Many unintentional injuries occur in the home, but little research has considered the specific vulnerability of people with disabilities.

Design: Cross-sectional study examining nationally representative data from the 2004–2006 National Health Interview Surveys.

Subjects: Adults aged 18 and older who reported having an unintentional, non-motor vehicle-related injury in the home (n = 2189) or outside the home (n = 2072) and those who reported no injuries (n = 81 919) 3 months before their interview.

Main outcome measure: Non-fatal, unintentional, non-motor vehicle-related injuries.

Results: Among respondents experiencing a residential injury, 21.2% reported one type of disability, 11.2% reported two disabilities, and 9.1% reported three or more disabilities. As the number of disabilities increased, the odds of reporting a residential injury increased. Adults with three or more disabilities had three times the odds of reporting a residential injury (adjusted odds ratio  = 3.2, 95% CI 2.7 to 3.9), compared with adults reporting no injury.

Conclusion: The risk of injury in the residential environment among adults with disabilities increases with increasing numbers of disabilities. Attention to home safety issues for residents with disabilities is needed.

https://doi.org/10.1136/ip.2008.018838

Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

    View Full Text

    Footnotes

    • Funding: Funding for this study came from the Home Safety Council and the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, through grants to the University of North Carolina Injury Prevention Research Center.

    • Competing interests: None.