| Summary: | Background: Childhood falls are an important global public health problem, but there is a lack of evidence about their prevention. Falls on one level result in considerable morbidity and they are costly to health services.
Objective: To estimate odds ratios for falls on one level in children aged 0-4 years for a range of safety behaviours, safety equipment use and home hazards.
Design, setting and participants: Multicentre case-control study at hospitals, minor injury units and general practices in and around 4 UK study centres. Participants included 582 children less than 5 years of age with a medically attended fall injury occurring at home and 2460 controls matched on age, sex, calendar time and study centre.
Main outcome measure: Fall on one level.
Results: Cases’ most common injuries were bangs on the head (52%), cuts or grazes not needing stitches (29%) or cuts or grazes needing stitches (17%). Comparing cases to community controls in the adjusted analyses, significant findings were observed for only 2 exposures. Injured children were significantly less likely to live in a household without furniture corner covers (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 0.72, 95%CI 0.55, 0.95), or without rugs and carpets firmly fixed to the floor (AOR 0.76, 95% CI 0.59, 0.98).
Conclusions: We did not find any safety practices, use of safety equipment or home hazards associated with a reduced risk of fall on one level. Our findings do not provide evidence to support changes to current injury prevention practice.
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