Article type
Year
Abstract
Introduction: Injuries are the leading cause of death in children and adolescents.
Objective: To determine the effectiveness of injury interventions at reducing injuries and reasons for variability between studies.
Methods: Searching electronic databases, writing to authors, reviewing bibliographies, and hand searching were all utilized to identify the studies. The odds ratio (OR) was used to summarize studies using the Peto method and fixed effects model.
Results: 20 randomized controlled trials were identified. Educational interventions were more effective than no intervention in producing behavioral change (OR, 0.38; 95%CI, 0.28 to 0.53) for home injuries and (OR, 0.50; 95%CI, 0.40 to 0.62) for safety seat restraint. Sources of variability between studies included blindedness of outcome assessor, category of intervention, and outcome measure (behavioral change vs. injury rates).
Discussion: Educational interventions are effective in producing behavioral change aimed at reducing injuries. It is not clear, however, whether this results in fewer injuries.
Objective: To determine the effectiveness of injury interventions at reducing injuries and reasons for variability between studies.
Methods: Searching electronic databases, writing to authors, reviewing bibliographies, and hand searching were all utilized to identify the studies. The odds ratio (OR) was used to summarize studies using the Peto method and fixed effects model.
Results: 20 randomized controlled trials were identified. Educational interventions were more effective than no intervention in producing behavioral change (OR, 0.38; 95%CI, 0.28 to 0.53) for home injuries and (OR, 0.50; 95%CI, 0.40 to 0.62) for safety seat restraint. Sources of variability between studies included blindedness of outcome assessor, category of intervention, and outcome measure (behavioral change vs. injury rates).
Discussion: Educational interventions are effective in producing behavioral change aimed at reducing injuries. It is not clear, however, whether this results in fewer injuries.