A descriptive study of nonfatal, unintentional home-based injury in urban settings: evidence from Hong Kong

This study investigates the epidemiological characteristics of non-fatal unintentional household injuries in Hong Kong, the city with the world's highest population density. A population-based, cross-sectional, random telephone survey was conducted with a modified Chinese WHO injury and violence survey questionnarie in May 2007. Descriptive and univariate analysis was conducted to highlight the associated factors. The prevalence of all non-fatal unintentional home injuries in the preceding year was 40.2%. Contusion/crushing injuries, open wounds and burn-related scalds were the most commonly reported home injury and the extremities were the commonest injured body parts. Female gender, younger age and residence in private housing residence were significantly associated with higher likelihood of injuries and most injuries had incurred medical expenses. This is the first study to reported systemtically about the patterns of non-fatal unintentional household injuries in Hong Kong. Future interventions should be targeted to these high risk groups identified in this study.