Home accidents in Al-Khobar city, eastern province, Saudi Arabia: a case-control socioeconomic study

A one-month prospective case-control study was conducted in two sectors of Al-Khobar City (Saudi population of 65,070) with the objective of identifying the socioeconomic factors that are related to home accidents among Saudis. All accidents reported to 20 health facilities during the period were recorded and for the home accidents a questionnaire was completed at the Emergency Rooms (ERs) and the subjects were subsequently interviewed at their homes. Of the 1,104 Saudis who reported to the ERs of these health facilities 209 (18.9 percent) had home accidents. 206 were interviewed at home together with 448 families (controls) randomly drawn from the family folders at the primary health care centers in the two sectors. In the event 25 more home accidents were identified and the number of control families was accordingly reduced to 423 while the accidents increased to 231. The overall incidence rate was 355/100,000 Saudis per month, being lower (327.6/100,000) for the first sector (Al-Thougba) with a population of a relatively lower socioeconomic status than the second (Al-Khobar) sector (399.5/100,000). The number of home accidents was related to family size and was also larger in families living in villas and flats compared to single story and portable buildings. Families with home accidents had significantly more members than the controls. It is recommended that extensive community-oriented research be conducted to identify, evaluate, and subsequently control the environmental and human factors that contribute to the incidence and outcome of home accidents in Saudi Arabia.