Authors: Andrea C. Gielen, Grace Bachman, Oluwakemi Badaki-Makun, Renee M. Johnson, Eileen McDonald, Elise Omaki, Keshia M. Pollack Porter, Leticia Ryan, and Wendy Shields
Funding for this study was provided by: Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy; Johns Hopkins Institute for Health and Social Policy; and Trauma Net Education Grant to Johns Hopkins Hospital Pediatric Trauma Center.
Injuries in and around the home, including ingestions, affect individuals across the lifespan (Mack et al. 2013; Gielen et al. 2015; McDonald et al. 2016). The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) last reported data on injuries that occurred in U.S. households in 2007, finding that 44% of all reported medically attended injury episodes occurred in or around the home (Chen et al. 2009). The increased exposure to potentially hazardous home environments and activities caused by stay-at-home orders and closures of schools may be responsible for a new spate of home injuries in 2020. There is no near real time medical surveillance system for home injuries in the U.S., a gap that we address through the use of a national survey. This brief report describes the number and type of home injuries among a nationally representative sample of U.S. households surveyed between June 17 and 29, 2020, when states were at various stages of re-opening and had stay-at-home recommendations. To identify risk factors for these injuries, we compare household characteristics between those that reported injuries and/or ingestions to those that did not.
Gielen, A.C., Bachman, G., Badaki-Makun, O. et al. National survey of home injuries during the time of COVID-19: who is at risk?. Inj. Epidemiol. 7, 63 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40621-020-00291-w
