Apartment dwellers risk accidents and injuries

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

A new study reveals that people who live in an apartment are more prone to burns and poisoning than those who live in a house.
The home can be a dangerous place. In the United States, unintentional injuries, like falls, around the house cause 18,000 deaths and 12 million injuries every year. Now researchers in the UK reveal that housing type seems to be a factor in the injury rate.

They carried out a survey of 112,248 people living in 58,000 residences where there had been 18,044 emergency room visits related to injuries occurring at home. They found that people living in apartments had twice the risk of injury compared to those in houses. They had a two fold higher risk of burns and scalds and a six fold greater risk of poisoning.

This is a little unexpected because it had previously been believed that older - and by implication less safe - dwellings were more likely to be a risk factor for injury. More research is needed into why apartments are more risky to live in that houses. Maybe people's surroundings influence their behavior. If so, there may be things that can be done to make apartment dwellings safer.

Source
American Journal of Preventive Medicine June 2006 Volume 30 number 6