FREE NEJM E-TOC    HOME   |   SUBSCRIBE   |   CURRENT ISSUE   |   PAST ISSUES   |   COLLECTIONS   |   Search Term  Advanced Search

Sign in | Get NEJM's E-Mail Table of Contents — Free | Subscribe

Previous Volume 344:1911-1916 June 21, 2001 Number 25 Next

	Full Text PDF Add to Personal Archive Add to Citation Manager Notify a Friend E-mail When Cited PubMed Citation

ABSTRACT

Background We sought to define the factors associated with house fires and related injuries by analyzing the data from population-based surveillance.

Methods For 1991 through 1997, we linked the following data for Dallas: records from the fire department of all house fires (excluding fires in apartments and mobile homes), records of patients transported by ambulance, hospital admissions, and reports from the medical examiner of fatal injuries.

Results There were 223 injuries (91 fatal and 132 nonfatal) from 7190 house fires, for a rate of 5.2 injured persons per 100,000 population per year. Rates of injury related to house fires were highest among blacks (relative risk, 2.8; 95 percent confidence interval, 2.1 to 3.6) and in people 65 years of age or older (relative risk, 2.6; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.9 to 3.5). Census tracts with low median incomes had the highest rates of injury related to house fires (relative risk as compared with census tracts with high median incomes, 8.1; 95 percent confidence interval, 2.5 to 32.0). The rate of injuries was higher for fires that began in bedrooms or living areas (relative risk, 3.7); that were started by heating equipment, smoking, or children playing with fire (relative risk, 2.6); or that occurred in houses built before 1980 (relative risk, 6.6). Injuries occurred more often in houses without functioning smoke detectors (relative risk, 1.5; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.0 to 2.4). The prevalence of functioning smoke detectors was lowest in houses in the census tracts with the lowest median incomes (P<0.001).

Conclusions Rates of injuries related to house fires are highest in elderly, minority, and low-income populations and in houses without functioning smoke detectors. Efforts to prevent injuries and deaths from house fires should target these populations.

Source Information

From the Injury Prevention Center of Greater Dallas (G.R.I., M.A.M., A.B.); PID Associates (G.R.I.); the Dallas Fire Department (L.O.); and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Dallas County (J.J.B.) — all in Dallas; and the Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham (A.B.).

Address reprint requests to Dr. Istre at the Injury Prevention Center of Greater Dallas, P.O. Box 36067, Dallas, TX 75235.

Full Text of this Article

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Mulvaney, C., Kendrick, D., Towner, E., Brussoni, M., Hayes, M., Powell, J., Robertson, S., Ward, H. (2009). Fatal and non-fatal fire injuries in England 1995-2004: time trends and inequalities by age, sex and area deprivation. J Public Health (Oxf) 31: 154-161 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Diekman, S T, Ballesteros, M F, Berger, L R, Caraballo, R S, Kegler, S R (2008). Ecological level analysis of the relationship between smoking and residential-fire mortality. Inj. Prev. 14: 228-231 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Mueller, B A, Sidman, E A, Alter, H, Perkins, R, Grossman, D C (2008). Randomized controlled trial of ionization and photoelectric smoke alarm functionality. Inj. Prev. 14: 80-86 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Pressley, J. C., Barlow, B., Quitel, L., Jafri, A. (2007). Improving Access to Comprehensive Injury Risk Assessment and Risk Factor Reduction in Older Adult Populations. Am. J. Public Health 97: 676-678 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Sankar, P., Cho, M. K., Condit, C. M., Hunt, L. M., Koenig, B., Marshall, P., Lee, S. S.-J., Spicer, P. (2004). Genetic Research and Health Disparities. JAMA 291: 2985-2989 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Shenassa, E. D., Stubbendick, A., Brown, M. J. (2004). Social Disparities in Housing and Related Pediatric Injury: A Multilevel Study. Am. J. Public Health 94: 633-639 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Howden-Chapman, P (2004). Housing standards: a glossary of housing and health. J. Epidemiol. Community Health 58: 162-168 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Laugesen, M, Duncanson, M, Fraser, T, McClellan, V, Linehan, B, Shirley, R (2003). Hand rolling cigarette papers as the reference point for regulating cigarette fire safety. Tobacco Control 12: 406-410 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Horan, J. M., Mallonee, S. (2003). Injury Surveillance. Epidemiol Rev 25: 24-42 [Full Text]  
• Istre, G R, McCoy, M, Carlin, D K, McClain, J (2002). Residential fire related deaths and injuries among children: fireplay, smoke alarms, and prevention. Inj. Prev. 8: 128-132 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Aligne, C. A., Stoddard, J. J., Meighan, S. S., Pender, D. J., Istre, G. R., McCoy, M. A., Barnard, J. J. (2001). Deaths and Injuries from House Fires. NEJM 345: 1064-1065 [Full Text]