Characteristics and predictors of home injury hazards among toddlers in Wenzhou, China: a community-based cross-sectional study

Abstract

BackgroundHome hazards are associated with toddlers receiving unintentional home injuries (UHI). These result in not only physical and psychological difficulties for children, but also economic losses and additional stress for their families. Few researchers pay attention to predictors of home hazards among toddlers in a systematic way. The purpose of this study is firstly to describe the characteristics of homes with hazards and secondly to explore the predicted relationship of children, parents and family factors to home hazards among toddlers aged 24–47 months in Wenzhou, China.MethodsA random cluster sampling was employed to select 366 parents having children aged 24 – 47 months from 13 kindergartens between March and April of 2012. Four instruments assessed home hazards, demographics, parent’s awareness of UHI, as well as family functioning.ResultsDescriptive statistics showed that the mean of home hazards was 12.29 (SD = 6.39). The nine kinds of home hazards that were identified in over 50% of households were: plastic bags (74.3%), coin buttons (69.1%), and toys with small components (66.7%) etc. Multivariate linear regression revealed that the predictors of home hazards were the child’s age, the child’s residential status and family functioning (b = .19, 2.02, - .07, p < .01, < .05 and < .01, respectively).ConclusionsThe results showed that a higher number of home hazards were significantly attributed to older toddlers, migrant toddlers and poorer family functioning. This result suggested that heath care providers should focus on the vulnerable family and help the parents assess home hazards. Further study is needed to find interventions on how to manage home hazards for toddlers in China.

Analysis of Behavioural Characteristics Related to Unintentional Injury in Southeast Chinese Adolescents: Evidence from a School-Based Survey

“…Previous studies indicated that parents with high educational level could reduce the child’s injury rate more obviously [19,20,21]. In our study, multiple logistic regression analysis only showed that father with a college degree or above was negatively correlated with the behaviour of not wearing a seat belt.…”

Social determinants of health associated with childhood accidents at home: An integrative review

“…In studies involving AH in general, in which no type specification was made, a statistically significant association was observed between the frequency of AH that caused injuries and age groups (25,28,31,43) . The age group with the highest frequency is the group between four and five years old (31,43) . It is found that, in general, accidents are less frequent among children under one.…”

“…Regarding the Proximal SDHs, as for the individual characteristics, six articles evaluated the children's ethnicity/race and their correlation with AH (in general (19,25,43) ; asphyxiation/strangulation/ suffocation in bed (38) ; burn (48) ). In this context, white children were significantly more likely to have an injury by AH reported (19,25,38) , followed by Hispanic and black ethnicity (25,38) .…”

“…In this context, white children were significantly more likely to have an injury by AH reported (19,25,38) , followed by Hispanic and black ethnicity (25,38) . Migrant children have been shown to be exposed to more domestic risks compared to local children (43) . In the specific area of AH involving burns, however, this situation is modified, with a higher prevalence among non-whites (47)(48) .…”

“…Behavioral factors, especially those related to the lack of adult supervision, were identified in a large part of the articles analyz ed (18,23,(25)(26)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(36)(37)39,41,43,48) . The main AHs that were related to this determinant were: intoxications; falls and burns (18,21,26,30,32,41,48) .…”