Prevalence and pattern of domestic injuries in rural area of Tamil Nadu

Abstract

Background: Domestic injuries contribute a major proportion in the prevalence of injuries. Although domestic injuries lead to significant morbidity and mortality, most of these injuries are under recognized. Methodology: Community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 200 households. A structured questionnaire was used to collect information on the injuries that occurred in previous 6 months, and the results were analyzed using SPSS version 20. Results: The prevalence of domestic injury was 4.8% among 839 individuals interviewed. The majority of the injuries occurred among males, and all injuries were unintentional in nature. Forty-two percent of the injuries occurred in hand which was the most common site. More than 50% of the injuries occurred due to handling of sharps, and 62.5% of injuries were mild in nature. No domestic injury-related deaths had occurred. Conclusions: Majority of the domestic injuries occurred due to handling of sharps. Careful handling of sharps, preventing handling of sharps by children would help reducing the occurrence of domestic injuries in this community.