|
|
|
|
|
Mary McCoy, MPH, Injury Prevention Center of Greater Dallas, P.O. Box 36067, 5000 Harry Hines Blve., Suite 101, Dallas, TX 75235, (214) 590-4455, mmccoy@parknet.pmh.org
Background: Prevention of residential fire injuries is most effective if it can be targeted to high-risk neighborhoods. Objective was to determine whether factors in census data, are associated with high rate neighborhoods for residential fire injuries.
Methods: Ten years of fire surveillance data, including deaths and injuries, from Dallas, TX was linked to census tract data from 1990 Census. Multivariate analyses were used to determine which variables were associated with census tracts with high rates of residential fire injuries.
Results: There were 485 residential fire injuries from 1991-2000. Multiple linear regression revealed that the percentage of people with less than high school education, no access to a phone, and crowded housing were all significant risk factors for injuries, P < .05. These factors accounted for 36% of the variability in the injury rate, Rē = .36, adjusted Rē = .32, P < .001.
Conclusions: Census tract variables are a viable way of identifying populations and areas that are at high risk for residential fire injuries. The use of local census data could aid cities in defining these populations and areas thus enabling communities to target prevention efforts most efficiently to those populations.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Injury Prevention,
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.