Citation

Eilert-Petersson E, Laflamme L. Safety Sci. 2001; 38(1): 1-17.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2001, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The current study concerns socioeconomic differences in the risk of non-fatal injuries related to different types of products, and considers male and female at various ages. Data were taken from a community-based injury register built up over one year (November 1989 to October 1990) in a semi-urban Swedish municipality (256,510 inhabitants), and then linked by record to Sweden's National Population Register (based on the census of 1990). Injuries related to manufactured products among the age group 0-64 were considered (8969 cases). Odds ratios were computed by gender for five categories of products and four socioeconomic groups (using salaried employees as the reference group). Compared with salaried employees, people from less advantaged socioeconomic groups (i.e. members of the unspecified population and manual workers) tended to record significantly higher injury morbidity related to all categories of products except sports and recreational equipment. Differences between groups were particularly pronounced among males, but were still evident among females. Contrary to expectation, in the younger age group (0-14 years), differences between socioeconomic groups were found for only two product categories: vehicles, for the unspecified population, and domestic appliances, food and drink, among manual workers). The results show that some kinds of products are determinant of differences in injury risks between socioeconomic groups, and that their role may change with age. It is suggested that progress in combating socioeconomic differences in safety could be made by defining targets for prevention with regard to commonplace aspects of everyday life.