Persephone Wynn

Preventing childhood scalds within the home: Overview of systematic reviews and a systematic review of primary studies

Highlights • We performed an overview of published systematic reviews and a systematic review of primary studies evaluating the effectiveness of interventions to prevent scalds in childhood.• There is little evidence that interventions are effective in reducing the incidence of scalds in children.• There is no consistent evidence on the effectiveness of interventions on the safe handling of hot food or drinks nor improving kitchen safety practices.• Education, home safety checks along with thermometers or thermostatic mixing valves is effective in reducing hot water temperature.

The Effectiveness of Different Interventions to Promote Poison Prevention Behaviours in Households with Children: A Network Meta-Analysis

Background There is evidence from 2 previous meta-analyses that interventions to promote poison prevention behaviours are effective in increasing a range of poison prevention practices in households with children. The published meta-analyses compared any intervention against a “usual care or no intervention” which potentially limits the usefulness of the analysis to decision makers. We aim to use network meta-analysis to simultaneously evaluate the effectiveness of different interventions to increase prevalence of safe storage of i) Medicines only, ii) Other household products only, iii) Poisons (both medicines and non-medicines), iv) Poisonous plants; and v) Possession of poison control centre (PCC) telephone number in households with children. Methods Data on the effectiveness of poison prevention interventions was extracted from primary studies identified in 2 newly-undertaken systematic reviews. Effect estimates were pooled across studies using a random effects network meta-analysis model. Results 28 of the 47 primary studies identified were included in the analysis. Compared to usual care intervention, the intervention with education and low cost/free equipment elements was most effective in promoting safe storage of medicines (odds ratio 2.51, 95% credible interval 1.01 to 6.00) while interventions with education, low cost/free equipment, home safety inspection and fitting components were most effective in promoting safe storage of other household products (2.52, 1.12 to 7.13), safe storage of poisons (11.10, 1.60 to 141.50) and possession of PCC number (38.82, 2.19 to 687.10). No one intervention package was more effective than the others in promoting safe storage of poisonous plants. Conclusion The most effective interventions varied by poison prevention practice, but education alone was not the most effective intervention for any poison prevention practice. Commissioners and providers of poison prevention interventions should tailor the interventions they commission or provide to the poison prevention practices they wish to promote. Highlights Network meta-analysis is useful for comparing multiple injury-prevention interventions. More intensive poison prevention interventions were more effective than education alone. Education and low cost/free equipment was most effective in promoting safe storage of medicines. Education, low cost/free equipment, home safety inspection and fitting was most effective in promoting safe storage of household products and poisons. Education, low cost/free equipment and home inspection were most effective in promoting possession of a poison control centre number. None of the intervention packages was more effective than the others in promoting safe storage of poisonous plants.

National survey of the injury prevention activities of children's centres.

Childrens centres were established across England to provide a range of services including early education, social care and health to pre-school children and their families. We surveyed childrens centres to ascertain the activities they were undertaking to prevent unintentional injuries in the under fives. A postal questionnaire was sent to a sample of childrens centre managers (n = 694). It included questions on current activities, knowledge and attitudes to injury prevention, health priorities and partnership working. Responses were received from 384 (56%) childrens centres. Overall, 58% considered unintentional injury prevention to be one of the three main child health priorities for their centre. Over half the respondents (59%) did not know if there was an injury prevention group in their area, and 21% did not know if there was a home safety equipment scheme. Knowledge of how child injury deaths occur in the home was poor. Only 11% knew the major cause of injury deaths in children under five. Lack of both staff time and funding were seen as important barriers by childrens centre staff to undertake injury prevention activities. Nearly all stated that training (97%) and assistance with planning injury prevention (94%) would be helpful to their centres. Childrens centres need further support if they are to effectively tackle this important public health area.

Keeping children safe at home: protocol for a case–control study of modifiable risk factors for scalds

Background Scalds are one of the most common forms of thermal injury in young children worldwide. Childhood scald injuries, which mostly occur in the home, result in substantial health service use and considerable morbidity and mortality. There is little research on effective interventions to prevent scald injuries in young children. Objectives To determine the relationship between a range of modifiable risk factors for medically attended scalds in children under the age of 5 years. Design A multicentre case-control study in UK hospitals and minor injury units with parallel home observation to validate parental reported exposures. Cases will be 0–4 years old with a medically attended scald injury which occurred in their home or garden, matched on gender and age with community controls. An additional control group will comprise unmatched hospital controls drawn from children aged 0–4 years attending the same hospitals and minor injury units for other types of injury. Conditional logistic regression will be used for the analysis of cases and matched controls, and unconditional logistic regression for the analysis of cases and unmatched controls to estimate ORs and 95% CI, adjusted and unadjusted for confounding variables. Main exposure measures Use of safety equipment and safety practices for scald prevention and scald hazards. Discussion This large case-control study will investigate modifiable risk factors for scalds injuries, adjust for potential confounders and validate measures of exposure. Its findings will enhance the evidence base for prevention of scalds injuries in young children.

Non-resuscitative first-aid training for children and laypeople: a systematic review

Background Relatively little is currently known about the effectiveness of first-aid training for children and laypeople. We have undertaken a systematic review to synthesise the evidence and inform policy and practice in this area. Methods A range of bibliographic databases were searched. Studies were eligible if they used experimental designs, provided first-aid training to laypeople or children and reported first-aid knowledge, skills behaviours or confidence. Studies were selected for inclusion, data extracted and risk of bias assessed by two independent reviewers. Findings were synthesised narratively. Results 23 studies (14 randomised controlled trials and 9 non-randomised studies) were included, 12 of which recruited children or young people (≤19 years old). Most studies reported significant effects favouring the intervention group; 11 out of 16 studies reported significant increases in first-aid knowledge; 11 out of 13 studies reported significant increases in first-aid skills; 2 out of 5 studies reported significant improvements in helping behaviour; and 2 out of 3 studies reported significant increases in confidence in undertaking first aid. Only one study undertook an economic evaluation; finding an intensive instructor-led course was more effective, but had significantly higher costs than either a less-intensive instructor-led course or a video-delivered course. Most studies were at risk of bias, particularly selection, performance or detection bias. Conclusions There is some evidence to support provision of first-aid training, particularly for children or young people, but many studies were judged to be at risk of bias. Conclusions cannot be drawn about which first-aid training courses or programmes are most effective or the age at which training can be most effectively provided. Few studies evaluated training in adult laypeople. High-quality studies are required assessing effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of standardised first-aid training to inform policy development and provision of first-aid training.

Prevention of childhood poisoning in the home: overview of systematic reviews and a systematic review of primary studies

Unintentional poisoning is a significant child public health problem. This systematic overview of reviews, supplemented with a systematic review of recently published primary studies synthesizes evidence on non-legislative interventions to reduce childhood poisonings in the home with particular reference to interventions that could be implemented by Childrens Centres in England or community health or social care services in other high income countries. Thirteen systematic reviews, two meta-analyses and 47 primary studies were identified. The interventions most commonly comprised education, provision of cupboard/drawer locks, and poison control centre (PCC) number stickers. Meta-analyses and primary studies provided evidence that interventions improved poison prevention practices. Twenty eight per cent of studies reporting safe medicine storage (OR from meta-analysis 1.57, 95% CI 1.22–2.02), 23% reporting safe storage of other products (OR from meta-analysis 1.63, 95% CI 1.22–2.17) and 46% reporting availability of PCC numbers (OR from meta-analysis 3.67, 95% CI 1.84–7.33) demonstrated significant effects favouring the intervention group. There was a lack of evidence that interventions reduced poisoning rates. Parents should be provided with poison prevention education, cupboard/drawer locks and emergency contact numbers to use in the event of a poisoning. Further research is required to determine whether improving poison prevention practices reduces poisoning rates.

Network meta-analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions to prevent falls in children under age 5 years

Background This study aimed to simultaneously evaluate the effectiveness of a range of interventions to increase the possession of safety equipment or behaviours to prevent falls in children under 5 years of age in the home. Methods A recently published systematic review identified studies to be included in a network meta-analysis; an extension of pairwise meta-analysis that enables comparison of all evaluated interventions simultaneously, including comparisons not directly compared in individual studies. Results 29 primary studies were identified, of which 16 were included in at least 1 of 4 network meta-analyses. For increasing possession of a fitted stair gate, the most intensive intervention (including education, low cost/free home safety equipment, home safety inspection and fitting) was the most likely to be the most effective, with an OR versus usual care of 7.80 (95% CrI 3.08 to 21.3). For reducing possession or use of a baby walker: education only was most likely to be most effective, with an OR versus usual care of 0.48 (95% CrI 0.31 to 0.84). Little difference was found between interventions for possession of window locks (most intensive intervention versus usual care OR=1.56 (95% CrI 0.02 to 89.8)) and for not leaving a child alone on a high surface (education vs usual care OR=0.89 (95% CrI 0.10 to 9.67)). There was insufficient evidence for network meta-analysis for possession and use of bath mats. Conclusions These results will inform healthcare providers of the most effective components of interventions and can be used in cost-effectiveness analyses.

Modifiable risk factors for scald injury in children under 5 years of age: A Multi-centre Case-Control Study.

OBJECTIVE To determine the relationship between a range of modifiable risk factors and medically attended scalds in children under the age of 5 years. METHODS Multicentre matched case-control study in acute hospitals, minor injury units and GP practices in four study centres in England. Cases comprised 338 children under 5 presenting with a scald, and 1438 control participants matched on age, gender, date of event and study centre. Parents/caregivers completed questionnaires on safety practices, safety equipment use, home hazards and potential confounders. Odds ratios were estimated using conditional logistic regression. RESULTS Parents of cases were significantly more likely than parents of controls to have left hot drinks within reach of their child (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 2.33, 95%CI 1.63 to 3.31; population attributable fraction (PAF) 31%). They were more likely not to have taught children rules about climbing on kitchen objects (AOR 1.66, 95%CI 1.12 to 2.47; PAF 20%); what to do or not do when parents are cooking (AOR 1.95, 95%CI 1.33 to 2.85; PAF 26%); and about hot things in the kitchen (AOR 1.89, 95%CI 1.30 to 2.75; PAF 26%). CONCLUSIONS Some scald injuries may be prevented by parents keeping hot drinks out of reach of children and by teaching children rules about not climbing on objects in the kitchen, what to do or not do whilst parents are cooking using the top of the cooker and about hot objects in the kitchen. Further studies, providing a more sophisticated exploration of the immediate antecedents of scalds are required to quantify associations between other hazards and behaviours and scalds in young children.

Systematic review and meta-analysis evaluating the effectiveness of home safety interventions (education and provision of safety equipment) for child injury prevention

Background Injuries are the leading cause of childhood death in industrialised countries with steep social gradients in morbidity and mortality. Most injuries in pre-school children occur at home, however there is little meta-analytic evidence that home safety interventions (HSI) reduce injury rates, improve safety practices or impact on injury inequalities. Aims/Objectives/Purpose To investigate effectiveness of HSI in increasing home safety practices and reducing child injury rates and whether the effect varied by social group. Methods Bibliographic databases, relevant websites, conference proceedings, bibliographies of relevant studies, and previously published reviews were searched. Results/Outcome 54 studies were included in at least one meta-analysis. HSI were effective in promoting safe hot tap water temperatures (OR 1.41, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.86), functional smoke alarms (OR 1.81, 95% CI 1.30 to 2.52), fire escape plans (OR 2.01, 95% CI 1,45 to 2.77), storing medicines (OR 1.53, 95% CI 1.27 to 1.84) and cleaning products (OR 1.55, 95% CI 1.22 to 1.96) out of reach, having syrup of ipecac (OR 3.34, 95% CI 1.50 to 7.44) and poison control centre numbers accessible (OR 3.30, 95% CI 1.70 to 6.39) and fitted stair gates (OR 1.61, 95% CI 1.19 to 2.17). HSI may reduce injury rates especially when delivered at home (IRR 0.75, 95% CI 0.62 to 0.91). There was no consistent evidence that HSI were less effective in those at greater risk of injury. Significance/Contribution to the Field HSI are effective in increasing a range of safety practices and may reduce injury rates without widening existing inequalities.