Health impacts and economic costs of residential fires (RESFIRES study): protocol for a population-based cohort study using linked administrative data

Abstract

IntroductionResidential fires remain a significant global public health problem. It is recognised that the reported number of residential fires, fire-related injuries and deaths significantly underestimate the true number. Australian surveys show that around two-thirds of respondents who experience a residential fire are unwilling to call the fire service, and international studies highlight that many individuals who access medical treatment for fire-related injuries do not have an associated fire incident report. The objectives of this study are to quantify the incidence, health impacts, risk factors and economic costs of residential fires in New South Wales (NSW), Australia.Methods and analysisThe RESFIRE cohort will include all persons living at an NSW residential address which experienced a fire over the period 2005–2014. Nine data sources will be linked to provide a comprehensive picture of individual trajectories from fire event to first responder use (fire and ambulance services), emergency department presentations, hospital admissions, burn out-patient clinic use and death. These data will be used to describe the circumstances and characteristics of residential fires, provide a profile of fire-related injuries, examine trends over time, and explore the relationship between fire circumstance, emergency and health services utilisation, and health outcomes. Regression modelling, including multilevel modelling techniques, will be used to explore factors that impact on these relationships. Costing models will be constructed.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval for this study has been obtained from the NSW Population and Health Service Research Ethics Committee and Western Sydney University Human Research Ethics Committee. The study reference group comprises key stakeholders including Fire and Rescue NSW, policy agencies, health service providers and burns clinicians ensuring wide dissemination of results and translation of data to inform practice and identify areas for targeted prevention. Summary reports in formats designed for policy audiences in parallel with scientific papers will be produced.

Estimating the Total Number of Residential Fire-Related Incidents and Underreported Residential Fire Incidents in New South Wales, Australia by Using Linked Administrative Data

“…This included any person whose residential fire-related injury or death was identified through linked administrative health datasets, irrespective of whether they had an associated residential fire incident record. The protocol for this linkage study has been detailed elsewhere [ 38 ].…”

Comparison of causes, characteristics and consequences of residential fires in social and non-social housing dwellings in New South Wales, Australia

“…The datasets and linkage have been detailed elsewhere ( Harvey et al, 2020 , Ghassempour et al, 2021 ).Ethical approval for this study was obtained from the NSW Population and Health Services Research Ethics Committee (HREC/16/CIPHS/36) and Western Sydney University Human Research Ethics Committee (RH12399).…”

The Impact of Reduced Fire Risk Cigarettes Regulation on Residential Fire Incidents, Mortality and Health Service Utilisation in New South Wales, Australia

“…This study is a population-based cohort analysis of linked administrative data. This study used RESFIRES, a linked data asset comprising nine datasets of residential fire incidents in NSW for the period 1 January 2005 to 31 December 2014, details of which have been described elsewhere [23].…”

“…The data were linked by the Centre for Health Record Linkage (CHeReL) where individuals are identified with a unique project person number (PPN), details of which have been described elsewhere [23]. Ethics approval for this study was obtained from the NSW Population and Health Services Research Ethics Committee (HREC/16/CIPHS/36) and Western Sydney University Human Research Ethics Committee (RH12399).…”