@article{ref1,
title="Incidence of childhood injuries and modifiable household risk factors in rural Ghana: a multistage, cluster-randomised, population-based, household survey",
journal="BMJ open",
year="2021",
author="Gyedu, Adam and Stewart, Barclay T. and Otupiri, Easmon and Mehta, Kajal and Donkor, Peter and Mock, Charles",
volume="11",
number="7",
pages="e039243-e039243",
abstract="OBJECTIVE: We aimed to describe the incidence of childhood household injuries and prevalence of modifiable household risk factors in rural Ghana to inform prevention initiatives. SETTING: 357 randomly selected households in rural Ghana. PARTICIPANTS: Caregivers of children aged <5 years. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Childhood injuries that occurred within 6 months and 200 metres of the home that resulted in missed school/work, hospitalisation and/or death. Sampling weights were applied, injuries were described and multilevel regression was used to identify risk factors. <br><br>RESULTS: Caregivers from 357 households had a mean age of 35 years (SD 12.8) and often supervised ≥2 children (51%). Households typically used biomass fuels (84%) on a cookstove outside the home (79%). Cookstoves were commonly <1 metre of the ground (95%). Weighted incidence of childhood injury was 542 per 1000 child-years. Falls (37%), lacerations (24%), burns (12%) and violence (12%) were common mechanisms. There were differences in mechanism across age groups (p<0.01), but no gender differences (p=0.25). Presence of older children in the home (OR 0.15, 95% CI 0.09 to 0.24; adjusted OR (aOR) 0.26, 95% CI 0.13 to 0.54) and cooking outside the home (OR 0.28, 95% CI 0.19 to 0.42; aOR 0.25, 95% CI 0.13 to 0.49) were protective against injury, but other common modifiable risk factors (eg, stove height, fuel type, secured cabinets) were not. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Childhood injuries occurred frequently in rural Ghana. Several common modifiable household risk factors were not associated with an increase in household injuries. Presence of older children was a protective factor, suggesting that efforts to improve supervision of younger children might be effective prevention strategies.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="2044-6055",
doi="10.1136/bmjopen-2020-039243",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-039243"
}