Evidence map›Paper›PMID 10799419›Full record

SynthesisArchives of disease in childhood2000

Systematic review of controlled trials of interventions to promote smoke alarms.

C DiGuiseppi, J P Higgins

Abstract readSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Archives of disease in childhood, 2000. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
19citing papers in PubMed, 5 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

19 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Housing improvements for health and associated socio-economic outcomes.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2013
    Pooled it
  4. Pooled it
  5. Interventions for promoting smoke alarm ownership and function.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2001
    Pooled it
  6. Paediatric emergency department-based carbon monoxide detector intervention: a randomised trial.Injury prevention : journal of the International Society for Child and Adolescent Injury Prevention · 2017
    Trial
  7. Trial
  8. Trial
  9. Trial
  10. Trial
  11. The effect of neighborhood Area Deprivation Index on residential burn injury severity.Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries · 2021
    Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Newspaper coverage of residential fires: an opportunity for prevention communication.Injury prevention : journal of the International Society for Child and Adolescent Injury Prevention · 2007
    Article
  17. Home safety measures and the risk of unintentional injury among young children: a multicentre case-control study.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2006
    Article
  18. Review
  19. Urban residential fire and flame injuries: a population based study.Injury prevention : journal of the International Society for Child and Adolescent Injury Prevention · 2000
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

C DiGuiseppiDepartment of Epidemiology and Public Health, Institute of Child Health, University College London Medical School, 30 Guilford Street, London WC1N 1EH, UK.C.DiGuiseppi@ich.ucl.ac.uk
J P Higgins

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

aimsTo evaluate the effects of promotion of residential smoke alarms.

methodsElectronic databases, conference proceedings, and bibliographies were systematically searched, and investigators and organisations were contacted, in order to identify controlled trials evaluating interventions designed to promote residential smoke alarms. The following were assessed: smoke alarm acquisition, ownership, and function; fires; burns; and fire related injuries. Odds ratios (OR) were estimated by meta analysis of randomised trials.

resultsA total of 26 trials were identified, of which 13 were randomised. Overall, counselling and educational interventions had only a modest effect on the likelihood of owning an alarm (OR = 1.26; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.87 to 1.81) or having a functional alarm (OR = 1.19; 95% CI: 0.85 to 1.66). Counselling as part of primary care child health surveillance had greater effects on ownership (OR = 1.93; 95% CI: 1.04 to 3.58) and function (OR = 1. 72; 95% CI: 0.78 to 3.78). Results were sensitive to trial quality, however, and effects on fire related injuries were not reported. In two non-randomised trials, direct provision of free alarms significantly increased functioning alarms and reduced fire related injuries. Media and community education showed little benefit in non-randomised trials.

conclusionCounselling as part of child health surveillance may increase smoke alarm ownership and function, but its effects on injuries are unevaluated. Community smoke alarm give away programmes apparently reduce fire related injuries, but these trials were not randomised and results must be interpreted cautiously. Further efforts to promote smoke alarms in primary care or through give away programmes should be evaluated by adequately designed randomised controlled trials measuring injury outcomes.

Indexed as

Health PromotionBurnsControlled Clinical Trials as TopicFiresHumansOdds RatioProtective DevicesRandomized Controlled Trials as TopicSmokeSmoke Inhalation InjurySmoke

Identifiers

PMID10799419
PMCPMC1718310

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.