DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2014.v02i02.038

Pages: 657-659

Domestic accidents are worldwide health problems. Domestic accidents have not not so far been recognized to the same extent as traffic and work related injuries, largely because they have not been effectively counted. Few studies are available regarding domestic accidents in India, and there is very few studies done in rural India. Hence the present study was done with an objective to assess the prevalence of domestic accidents in rural community. This cross sectional study was done on 3500 subjects by using simple random sampling technique, the study was conducted in rural field practice area of a medical college in South India between Jan to Dec 2010.Information regarding domestic accidents was gathered by interviewing the head of the family or the adult informant by using pretested and pre structured quessionnaire. Total 330 domestic accidents were found in our study. 210 domestic accidents were due to falls, 225 accidents were seen in female, 217 subjects with accidents were illiterates 49.7% of accidents took place in the courtyard,56.8% of accidents took place while playing or doing domestic work and 39.2% of accidents took place in the afternoon. Domestic accidents are more common in extreme age groups and in females. The reasons may be the higher amount of time spent at home and greater participation in daily home activities. Falls being the most frequent type of accidents, proper designing of house and adequate illumination may help in reducing their occurrence.