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Incidence of fires and related injuries after giving out free smoke alarms: cluster randomised controlled trial

DiGuiseppi, C; Roberts, I; Wade, A; Sculpher, M; Edwards, P; Godward, C; Pan, HQ; (2002) Incidence of fires and related injuries after giving out free smoke alarms: cluster randomised controlled trial. BRIT MED J , 325 (7371) 995 - 997. Green open access

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Abstract

Objective To measure the effect of giving out free smoke alarms on rates of fires and rates of fire related injury in a deprived multiethnic urban population.Design Cluster randomised controlled trial. Setting Forty electoral wards in two boroughs of inner London, United Kingdom.Participants Primarily households including elderly people or children and households that are in housing rented from the borough council.Intervention 20 050 smoke alarms, fittings, and educational brochures distributed free and installed on request.Main outcome measures Rates of fires and related injuries during two years after the distribution; alarm ownership, installation, and function.Results Giving out free smoke alarms did not reduce injuries related to fire (rate ratio 1.3; 95% confidence interval 0.9 to 1.9), admissions to hospital and deaths (1.3; 0.7 to 2.3), or fires attended by the fire brigade (1.1; 0.96 to 1.3). Similar proportions of intervention and control households had installed alarms (36/119 (30%) v 35/109 (32%); odds ratio 0.9; 95% confidence interval 0.5 to 1.7) and working alarms (19/118 (16%) v 18/108 (17%); 0.9; 0.4 to 1.8).Conclusions Giving out free smoke alarms in a deprived, multiethnic, urban community did not reduce injuries related to fire, mostly because few alarms had been installed or were maintained.

Type: Article
Title: Incidence of fires and related injuries after giving out free smoke alarms: cluster randomised controlled trial
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
Keywords: UNDERPRIVILEGED AREAS, MULTILEVEL MODEL, METAANALYSIS
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health > Population, Policy and Practice Dept
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/7525
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