Injury-producing events among children in low-income communities: The roleof community characteristics

Study Purpose. Injury remains the leading cause of death in children aged 1 to 4 years. Past studies of determinants of injuries among young children have most often focused on the microlevel. examining characteristics of the child, parent family, and home environments. We sought to determine whethe r and how selected neighborhood economic and physical characteristics withi n these low-income communities are related to differences in risk of events with injury-producing potential among infants and young children. Methods. Our study used both individual-level data and information on the c haracteristics of the neighborhood of residence to describe the prevalence of er events with injury-producing potential among infants and young childr en in three low-income communities in Baltimore City, Maryland. Our sample was 288 respondents who participated in a random household survey. Informat ion on respondent (ase, employment, and length of residence in the neighbor hood) and neighborhood characteristics (average per capita income, rate of housing violations, and crime rate) were available. Methods of multilevel P oisson regression analysis were employed to identify which of these charact eristics were associated with increased risk of experiencing an event with injury-producing potential in the month prior to the interview. Results. Although all three communities were considered low income, conside rable variation in neighborhood characteristics and 1-month prevalence rate s of events with injury-producing potential were observed. Younger age of r espondent and higher rates of housing violations were associated significan tly with increased risk of a child under 5 years old in the household exper iencing an event with injury-producing potential. Conclusions. Information on community characteristics was important to unde rstanding the risks for injuries and could be used to develop community-bas ed prevention interventions.