TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2012//
TI  - Increases in best practice child restraint use among children aged 2-5 years in low socioeconomic areas after introduction of mandatory child restraint laws in NSW Australia
JO  - Injury prevention
A1  - Brown, J.
A1  - Keay, L.
A1  - Hunter, K.
A1  - Bilston, L.
A1  - Simpson, J.
A1  - Ivers, Rebecca Q.
SP  - A106
EP  - A106
VL  - 18
IS  - Suppl 1
N2  - Background In 2009 the Australian Road Rules were modified to specify use of age-appropriate restraints for children up to 7 years. Implementation of the new laws was expected to increase optimal restraint use, but international studies have reported little or no effect of legislation in low income and minority groups.    Aims/Objectives/Purpose To compare restraint practices in children aged 2-5 years in low socioeconomic areas of NSW before and after introduction of legislation specifying age-appropriate restraint use.    Methods Direct observations of children aged 2-5 years at sites within low socioeconomic areas were used to assess restraint practices. A pre-legislation sample was drawn from a 2008 cross-sectional observation survey (n=106) and post-legislation data were collected in 2010 from control sites in a cluster randomised trial (n=360). Logistic regression was used to compare restraint practices adjusting for variations in demographic distributions between the samples.    Results/Outcome Age-appropriate restraint use increased from 41% to 73%, and correct use from 34% to 47% in the post-legislation sample. After controlling for child's age, parental education, income and language spoken at home, the odds of children in the post-legislation sample being appropriately restrained were 2.2 times greater (95% CI 1.4 to 3.6) and the odds of them being correctly restrained were 1.6 times greater (95% CI 1.0 to 2.7) than children in the pre-legislation sample.    Significance/Contribution to the Field While there appears to have been an improvement in child restraint practices in low income populations following implementation of laws mandating age-appropriate restraint, the results indicate a need for further interventions to increase the number of children optimally restrained.     This is an abstract of a presentation at Safety 2012, the 11th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion, 1-4 October 2012, Michael Fowler Center, Wellington, New Zealand. Full text does not seem to be available for this abstract. <p />
LA  - en
SN  - 1353-8047
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/injuryprev-2012-040590d.32
ID  - ref1
ER  -