Prevalence and pattern of domestic accidents in the field practice area of Jawaharlal Institute of Urban Health Centre, Puducherry: a cross-sectional analytical study

Background: injuries constitute around 16% of the total disease burden in india with respect todisability-adjusted life years. more than two third of these injuries are unintentional and occur athousehold level. domestic accidents are preventive and can be drastically reduced by effectivemeasures and safety consciousness. this study aims to find the prevalence of domestic accidents,the household safety practices and their association with socio demographic factors in selectedurban wards of puducherry.methods: a population-based cross sectional analytical study was conducted in the service areaof jawaharlal institute of postgraduate medical education and research urban health centre,puducherry, in june 2018. data regarding self-reported domestic accidents in the last one yearwere collected using a structured questionnaire and assessment of household hazards was doneafter examining the houses.results: among the 578 randomly selected households, 393(68%) belonged to nuclear families,486(84%) had pucca houses and in 339(59%) overcrowding was present. 59(10.2%) householdsreported domestic accidents – of which 25(42%) had adult victims, 22(37%) were due to falls,27(45%) had upper limb injuries and 25(43%) occurred in kitchen. on assessment of safetypractices, 121(21%) houses had doors with stoppers, 394(68%) had items scattered on livingroom floor while 128(24%) and 160(30%) had grab bars and doormat in bathroomsrespectively. domestic accidents were more prevalent among overcrowded households prevalenceratio: 1.74 ([95% ci: 1.02 – 2.98], p = 0.04).conclusion: the prevalence of domestic accidents was 10.2% in the present study. it wasreported mostly among the adults and in the kitchen, with falls being the most common cause andupper limbs injury being commonest. most of the houses had objects lying scattered on the floorhindering movement; and stoppers and grab bars were missing from the doors and bathroomsrespectively. overcrowding was significantly associated with domestic accidents.