A study of occurrence of domestic accidents in semi-urban community

Abstract

Context:Domestic accidents are worldwide public health problems. The consequences of a domestic accident may prove disastrous as it may result in disability and loss of productivity. In this context, the present study was carried out to characterize the occurrence of domestic accidents in a semi-urban community.Aims:To study the incidence of domestic accident in a semi-urban community and its association with various epidemiological factors.Settings and Design:Community-based cross-sectional study of 796 households consisting of 4086 individuals residing in a semi-urban area.Materials and Methods:Complete information from 796 households consisting of 4086 individuals was collected through semi-structured, pre-tested questionnaire. Domestic accident was considered when any of these individuals had met with an accident inside the house or in the immediate surroundings of the house during the last 6 months from the date of survey. The collected data were tabulated and analyzed.Statistical Analysis Used:Simple proportions and Chi-squared test.Results:The incidence of domestic accidents was found to be 1.7%. The most common accident reported was fall. Occurrence of falls was found to be associated with age and overcrowding. Other accidents noted were burns, scalds, electrocution, injuries and accidental poisoning. Accidents were reported in significantly higher proportion in extreme age groups and in females. Higher proportion of accidents occurred during the morning and evening hours. About 10.1% were treated at home, 72.5% as outdoor patients and 17.4% as indoor patients. The mean duration of hospital stay was found to be 2 weeks. Full recovery was observed in 82.6% cases, whereas permanent disability was found in only 2.9% subjects, while 14.5% reported chronic pain after the accident. No death related to domestic accident was reported in the present study.Conclusions:Domestic accidents are more common in extreme age groups and in females. The reasons may be the higher amount of time spent at home and greater participation in daily home activities. Falls being the most frequent type of accidents, proper designing of house and adequate illumination may help in reducing their occurrence, as the majority of accidents occurred during the morning and evening hours in our study.

A cross-sectional study on domestic accidents in the urban field practice area of a private medical college, Davangere, Karnataka

“…7,10,[14][15][16] Falls was more commonly reported among children and elderly, which is consistent with the results of Sudhir et al and Bhanderi et al 8,10 However, studies conducted in Avsarogullari et al, Neghab et al and by Chaurasia et al, it was observed that higher proportion of burns as most common domestic accident. 11,13,17 Shawon et al reported that courtyards and kitchen were the common places where domestic accidents happened, where as in our study, they were common in front yard and kitchen.…”

“…Similar to our study, Bhanderi et al conducted a study in a semi urban area of Gujarat where in the prevalence was very less (1.7%) because of better housing conditions and the safety precautions taken to avoid any such injuries. 10 Falls was the most common domestic accidents reported in our study that is similar to that of studies done by Masthi et al, Sudhir et al, Shawon et al and also in the study done by Bhanderi et al [7][8][9][10] However, there are some studies conducted in Turkey, Pakistan and Iran that reported burns as the most common domestic accident. [11][12][13] This variation could be due to the differences in the lifestyle, habits and level of people"s awareness among these countries.…”

“…These findings are same as the study conducted by Madhavi et al, whereas they were more during morning hours in a study carried out in Gujarat. 18,10 About 50% of the domestic accident victims received treatment either in private/government hospitals or in both the health facilities, which is lesser compared to study carried out in Bangladesh (84%). 9 In our study 22% of the subjects took self-treatment at home by home remedies.…”

Epidemiology of fall and its risk factors among elders in a rural area of Coimbatore, India

“…16 Another study done in Gujarat by Dinesh et al showed a very low prevalence of fall (3.4%) among elders above 60 years of age but again the definition of fall used to capture it as a fall was not made known. 17 It has been difficult to compare the magnitude of burden of fall between the various studies due to lack of uniformity in the operational definition of fall. Hence, it is difficult to conclude whether the varying burden of falls widely among different countries is due to lack of uniformity in the operational definition or a real one.…”

Urbanization and domestic accidents in an Iranian community

“…However, falling was the most frequent cause of domestic accidents among urban families. Many studies have been conducted to find factors related to falling in communities (17,18). These results show that migrated families who were less familiar with new equipment in their new houses were not able to use them correctly.…”