The identification of young children (< 5 years of age) at high risk for death in fires can help target prevention programs in the community.
Parameters which have a strong and independent association with fire-related death in young children:
(1) years of maternal education
(2) maternal age
(3) total number of children
|
Parameter |
Finding |
Points |
|
maternal education |
>= 16 years |
0 |
|
|
13 - 15 years |
1 |
|
|
12 years |
2 |
|
|
< 12 years |
3 |
|
maternal age |
>= 30 years |
0 |
|
|
25 - 29 years |
1 |
|
|
20 - 24 years |
2 |
|
|
< 20 years |
3 |
|
number of other children |
0 |
0 |
|
|
1 |
1 |
|
|
2 |
2 |
|
|
>= 3 |
3 |
where:
• 12 years of education would usually indicate high school completed; 16 years would usually indicate college completed
Other risk factors identified in multivariate analysis:
(1) male gender of child
(2) unmarried mother
(3) delayed prenatal care for mother
risk score =
= (points for maternal education) + (points for maternal age) + (points for number of other children)
Interpretation:
• minimum score: 0
• maximum score: 9
• The maximum score would be seen in a teenage woman with multiple children and who did not complete high school.
|
Score |
Risk Group |
Fatal Fire Events |
|
0 - 2 |
low |
0.19 per 100,000 child years |
|
3 - 5 |
intermediate |
1.6 to 3.7 |
|
6 - 7 |
high |
7.9 to 16.0 |
|
8 - 9 |
highest |
28.6 per 100,000 child years (150 times risk of low risk group) |
Specialty: Emergency Medicine, Critical Care
ICD-10: ,
