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Abstract
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Background
Injury is an increasingly important health problem particularly in developing countries like India. Community-based studies are of paramount importance to develop preventive measures. Not many community-based studies have been done to assess the burden and nature of injury in India and the State of Tamil Nadu.
Methods
A systematic random sample of households was selected from each of two selected Health sub-centers. All adult members were interviewed with a semi-structured questionnaire to collect information on unintentional injuries in a 30-day recall period. For children below 5 years, a responsible adult member (mostly mother or father) of the family was interviewed.
Results
Totally 2216 members were surveyed in 502 households. The overall incidence of unintentional injuries was 9.6% [95% Confidence Interval (CI): 8.4, 10.9]. Incidence was lowest in 15-44 age-groups and highest in 0-4 age-group (8.7% Vs female (χ2= 10.88; p <0.001). All reported injuries were non-fatal in nature. The common types of injuries were minor injuries, falls, animal and insect bites and traffic injuries. The incidence of minor injuries was high (3.4%) compared to other types like falls (2.9%) and animal bite (1.6%). No injury was reported due to accidental poisoning and drowning.
Conclusions
The incidence of unintentional injuries was found to be low in the present study. However, further studies using larger and more representative samples are needed to delineate the problem of unintentional injuries and their risk factors in rural Tamil Nadu.
Language: en |