BACKGROUND: Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death in children, and falls are the most common type of unintentional injury in the US. The incidence of falls from windows, a common cause of death in urban areas, has not been described outside major cities such as New York and Chicago, and rates in urban and suburban areas have not been compared. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the incidence and identify the population at risk for falls from windows among children in Hamilton County, Ohio. DESIGN: Retrospective case series identified using Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CHMC) Trauma Registry. SETTING: Hamilton County, Ohio, which has urban and nonurban areas. PARTICIPANTS: Children less than 15 years old residing in Hamilton County, Ohio, presenting to CHMC in Cincinnati, Ohio, after a fall from a window between January 1, 1991, and December 31, 1997. OUTCOME MEASURE: Annual incidence by age, race, gender, and residence of those who fell from windows. RESULTS: Over the 7-year study period, 86 (6.3%) of 1,363 falls were from windows. The mortality rate for falls from windows was 4.7%, compared to 0.07% for all other falls presenting to CHMC (P<.0001). Children 0-4 years old had a higher rate of falls than children aged 5-14 (14.6/100,000 vs. 2.0/100,000) (P<.0001). Males were twice as likely to fall as females (P<.016), and black children were three times more likely to fall than non-black children (P<.002). The incidence of falls in the city of Cincinnati was four times that of the non-urban area (P<.0002). CONCLUSIONS: Injuries from falls from windows are a public health problem in Hamilton County, Ohio, especially for young, urban children.
BACKGROUND: Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death in children, and falls are the most common type of unintentional injury in the US. The incidence of falls from windows, a common cause of death in urban areas, has not been described outside major cities such as New York and Chicago, and rates in urban and suburban areas have not been compared. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the incidence and identify the population at risk for falls from windows among children in Hamilton County, Ohio. DESIGN: Retrospective case series identified using Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CHMC) Trauma Registry. SETTING: Hamilton County, Ohio, which has urban and nonurban areas. PARTICIPANTS: Children less than 15 years old residing in Hamilton County, Ohio, presenting to CHMC in Cincinnati, Ohio, after a fall from a window between January 1, 1991, and December 31, 1997. OUTCOME MEASURE: Annual incidence by age, race, gender, and residence of those who fell from windows. RESULTS: Over the 7-year study period, 86 (6.3%) of 1,363 falls were from windows. The mortality rate for falls from windows was 4.7%, compared to 0.07% for all other falls presenting to CHMC (P<.0001). Children 0-4 years old had a higher rate of falls than children aged 5-14 (14.6/100,000 vs. 2.0/100,000) (P<.0001). Males were twice as likely to fall as females (P<.016), and black children were three times more likely to fall than non-black children (P<.002). The incidence of falls in the city of Cincinnati was four times that of the non-urban area (P<.0002). CONCLUSIONS:Injuries from falls from windows are a public health problem in Hamilton County, Ohio, especially for young, urban children.
Authors: Ratilal Lalloo; Lydia R Lucchesi; Catherine Bisignano; Chris D Castle; Zachary V Dingels; Jack T Fox; Erin B Hamilton; Zichen Liu; Nicholas L S Roberts; Dillon O Sylte; Fares Alahdab; Vahid Alipour; Ubai Alsharif; Jalal Arabloo; Mojtaba Bagherzadeh; Maciej Banach; Ali Bijani; Christopher Stephen Crowe; Ahmad Daryani; Huyen Phuc Do; Linh Phuong Doan; Florian Fischer; Gebreamlak Gebremedhn Gebremeskel; Juanita A Haagsma; Arvin Haj-Mirzaian; Arya Haj-Mirzaian; Samer Hamidi; Chi Linh Hoang; Seyed Sina Naghibi Irvani; Amir Kasaeian; Yousef Saleh Khader; Rovshan Khalilov; Abdullah T Khoja; Aliasghar A Kiadaliri; Marek Majdan; Navid Manaf; Ali Manafi; Benjamin Ballard Massenburg; Abdollah Mohammadian-Hafshejani; Shane Douglas Morrison; Trang Huyen Nguyen; Son Hoang Nguyen; Cuong Tat Nguyen; Tinuke O Olagunju; Nikita Otstavnov; Suzanne Polinder; Navid Rabiee; Mohammad Rabiee; Kiana Ramezanzadeh; Kavitha Ranganathan; Aziz Rezapour; Saeed Safari; Abdallah M Samy; Lidia Sanchez Riera; Masood Ali Shaikh; Bach Xuan Tran; Parviz Vahedi; Amir Vahedian-Azimi; Zhi-Jiang Zhang; David M Pigott; Simon I Hay; Ali H Mokdad; Spencer L James Journal: Inj Prev Date: 2020-01-08 Impact factor: 2.399