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Preventing deaths and injuries from house fires: an outcome evaluation of a community-based smoke alarm installation programme.
- Source :
- Injury Prevention (1353-8047); Apr2014, Vol. 20 Issue 2, p97-102, 6p, 3 Charts, 2 Graphs
- Publication Year :
- 2014
-
Abstract
- Background Few studies have examined the impact of community-based smoke alarm (SA) distribution programmes on the occurrence of house fire-related deaths and injuries (HF-D/I). Objective To determine whether the rate of HF-D/I differed for programme houses that had a SA installed through a community-based programme called Operation Installation, versus non-programme houses in the same census tracts that had not received such a SA. Methods Teams of volunteers and firefighters canvassed houses in 36 high-risk target census tracts in Dallas, TX, between April 2001 and April 2011, and installed lithium-powered SAs in houses where residents were present and gave permission. We then followed incidence of HF-D/I among residents of the 8134 programme houses versus the 24 346 non-programme houses. Results After a mean of 5.2 years of follow-up, the unadjusted HF-D/I rate was 68% lower among residents of programme houses versus non-programme houses (3.1 vs 9.6 per 100 000 population, respectively; rate ratio, 0.32; 95% CI 0.10 to 0.84). Multivariate analysis including several demographic variables showed that the adjusted HF-D/I rate in programme houses was 63% lower than non-programme houses. The programme was most effective in the first 5 years after SA installation, with declining difference in rates after the 6th year, probably due to SAs becoming non-functional during that time. Conclusions This collaborative, community-based SA installation programme was effective at preventing deaths and injuries from house fires, but the duration of effectiveness was less than 10 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- FIRE prevention
PREVENTION of injury
CONFIDENCE intervals
CAUSES of death
EPIDEMIOLOGY
FIRES
LONGITUDINAL method
PROTECTIVE clothing
MULTIVARIATE analysis
HEALTH outcome assessment
RESEARCH funding
STATISTICAL sampling
SURVEYS
DATA analysis
COMMUNITY-based social services
DISEASE incidence
EVALUATION of human services programs
DATA analysis software
DESCRIPTIVE statistics
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 13538047
- Volume :
- 20
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Injury Prevention (1353-8047)
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 95072013
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1136/injuryprev-2013-040823