Injury events sustained in residential environments: age and physical disability as explanatory factors for differences in injury patterns in Sweden

ABSTRACT

The aim is to analyze how age and physical (dis)ability jointly condition the probability of different types of injuries in residential settings, in order to identify injury countermeasures. There is a need to identify risk factors associated with injuries involving disabled people in their homes. The data include 62,674 records of unintentional injuries in the residential settings from Injury Database 2001–2015. Injuries were twice as likely to occur in residential settings, compared to other environments. Individuals with dis-abilities were more likely to be injured in their residences through falls, compared to non disabled individuals. Contusion was a more common injury type in the disabled group, while open wounds were more common in the non disabled group. Age was the most important factor for predicting fractures and the risk for fractures increased by age, while risk factors related to physical disability did not appear to play a role. The evidence is clear that people with disabilities, and older people without disabilities, would benefit from safety interventions in their home to reduce harm from falls after they have occurred. In keeping with principles to support autonomy, it is recommended that a range of passive measures be implemented to reduce injury risks.

KEYWORDS:

• Prevention
• home
• physical disabilities
• register data

Acknowledgments

The study was funded by the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency. Thanks to Pierre Wallqvist, Andreas Wändahl, and Berit Evertson, Region Västra Götaland, for access to Injury Database Skaraborg (IDB) and to all members in the “ArchSafe” research group at Chalmers University of Technology. We appreciate the language editing help provided to us by Diana Stark Ekman.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The study was funded by the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency.

Notes on contributors

Charlotta Thodelius

Charlotta Thodelius is a PhD candidate at Chalmers University of Technology. She mastered in criminology at the University of Gothenburg.

Robert Ekman

Robert Ekman is an associate professor in public health science from Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm and serves now as a researcher at Chalmers University of Technology. Ekman has more than 35 years of experience from the injury research field. His main focus has been community safety, injury registration and evaluation.

Jörgen Lundälv

Jörgen Lundälv is an associate professor in Social Work, Department of Social Work, University of Gothenburg and Associate Professor in Traffic Medicine, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden. His research focuses on disability, long-term illnesses, injury events and social support.

Hans Ekbrand

Hans Ekbrand holds a PhD in sociology and works as a researcher and teacher at the University of Gothenburg. Ekbrand has substantial experience working with big datasets.