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Intentional interpersonal injury appears to be the most common cause of injury in African Americans in western Philadelphia, PA. Emergency department records from 1987 through 1990 were reviewed from hospitals in a predominantly African-American neighborhood in Philadelphia. A total of 46,260 injuries occurred during the four-year study. There were 403 deaths and 2,796 hospital admissions. Slightly more than 23% of all injuries were intentional interpersonal injuries. Almost 41% of men between 20 and 29 years old visited a hospital emergency room at least once as a result of an intentional interpersonal injury. Slightly more than 21% of the women in the same age group visited an emergency room because of an intentional interpersonal injury. During the course of the study intentional gun-related injuries increased by 179%., Objective. - To improve understanding of the patterns of injury morbidity and mortality in an urban African-American population. Design. - Prospective survey of emergency department records for a geographically defined population from 1987 through 1990. Setting. - Eleven hospital emergency departments in Philadelphia, Pa. Participants. - The approximately 6 8000 people living in 17 census tracts in western Philadelphia. Results. - A total of 46 260 injury events were identified in the survey (168.8 events per 1000 population annually). Half of the population made an emergency department visit for one or more injuries during the 4 years of study. There were 2796 hospital admissions (10.2/1000 population) and 403 deaths (1.5/1000 population) as a result of these injuries. Although in 1987 falls were the most frequent type of injury resulting in an emergency department visit, by 1989 the number of interpersonal intentional injury events exceeded the number of falls. Interpersonal intentional injuries accounted for 31.2% of hospital admissions and 42.7% of deaths. Of men 20 through 29 years old, 94.3% visited an emergency department at least once in the 4 years because of an injury, and 40.9% of men in this age group sought treatment for one or more interpersonal intentional injuries. The likelihood of future interpersonal intentional injury-related visits increased with the number of previous injuries of this type. Conclusions. - Interpersonal intentional injury occurs frequently in this population. More attention needs to be paid to prevention and intervention to reduce the toll of this violence. The high prevalence of injury in certain age strata may make general, population-based efforts for injury prevention more efficient than efforts targeted to subgroups. more...

Objectives. Injury is a major US public health problem, particularly in urban minority communities. This paper evaluates the impact of the Safe Block Project, a comprehensive injury prevention trial, on home hazards and injury prevention knowledge in a poor urban African-American community. Methods. Nine census tracts in the community were allocated to either the intervention area or the control area. The intervention, carried out by trained community outreach workers, consisted of (1) home modification for simple prevention measures, (2) home inspection accompanied by information about home hazards, and (3) education about selected injury prevention practices. Approximately 12 months after the intervention, random samples of control and intervention homes were assessed for home hazards and injury prevention knowledge. Results. A significantly larger proportion of intervention homes than control homes had functioning smoke detectors, syrup of ipecac, safely stored medications, and reduced electrical and tripping hazards. No consistent differences were observed between control and intervention homes on home hazards requiring major effort to correct. Conclusions. There was a distinct difference between control and intervention homes with respect to safety knowledge and home hazards requiring minimal to moderate effort to correct. The Safe Block Project could serve as a model for future urban injury prevention efforts. (Am J Public Health. 1993;83:675-680), Accidents in the home can be reduced through community-based intervention consisting of an assessment of hazards in the home and discussion of ways to alleviate the dangers. Members of the intervention team were recruited from an urban, primarily African-American neighborhood in Philadelphia, PA, and trained in injury prevention techniques. Community liaisons were responsible for ensuring community involvement in the area selected to receive safety intervention. Team members visited 3,004 homes and pointed out potential hazard areas to residents. They also provided minor safety remedies such as bath thermometers to prevent scalds, batteries for smoke detectors and syrup of ipecac as a remedy for accidental poisoning. Follow-up in the homes found that homes that received intervention were more likely to have corrected potential safety hazards that required minimal to moderate intervention. Residents also had better knowledge of home injury prevention. more...

Injuries appear to occur more frequently among whites than among blacks, but the latter are more likely to die as a consequence of those injuries. The injury rates are higher in younger age groups, and working adults have lower injury rates than those who do not work. Using data obtained from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) of the years 1983 through 1987, the patterns of injuries to currently working adults 18 to 64 years old were examined. Injury episodes were identified as any accidental or nonaccidental violence requiring medical attention, involving at least one half day of restricted activity or loss of work time. For the period of the study 209,576 interviews were conducted. Only 2,016 injuries were reported to have occurred in the prior two weeks, yielding an annual weighted estimate of 27,382,000 injuries in the US working population. Selected determinations based on differing demographic characteristics were estimated, and are reported. In all group comparisons, except the 45- to 64-year-old group, blacks had fewer injuries than whites. Injuries to currently working adults are common in the US, and affect approximately 25 percent of them annually. Injuries happened more often to poor and younger workers. Overall blacks had fewer injuries than whites among blue collar and service workers. Possible confounding of demographic factors other than age and ethnicity could not account for the outcomes observed. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.) more...

The risks of exposure to each of six types of occupational injuries and illnesses for Hispanic and Black workers compared to Whites who are not Hispanic were calculated using 1986 California data. Among males, Hispanics had a greater risk of exposure to all hazards than blacks, after taking into account education and years of work experience. Among females, adjusted relative risks were 1.19 times those of Whites than for Hispanics, and 1.31 for Black women. more...