title: Childhood injuries due to falls from apartment balconies and windows.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Falls from balconies and windows are an important cause of childhood injury. This study investigated the circumstances around such falls and attempted to identify possible measures for their prevention.
  
  
  METHODS
  Children <15 years living in Dallas County, Texas.
  
  
  METHODS
  Each child treated because of a fall from a building in 1997-99 had information about the injury collected, and a parent was contacted to obtain further information. For apartment related falls, an attempt was made to visit the apartment to measure windows and balcony rails.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Ninety eight children were injured in falls from buildings during the three year period; 39 (40%) were admitted to hospital. Seventy five of the falls (77%) involved apartments, and most occurred around noon or evening meal times. Among apartment falls, 39 (52%) fell from windows, 34 (45%) from balconies, and two (3%) from unknown sites. For more than two thirds of balcony related falls, the child fell from between the balcony rails, all of which were spaced more than 4 inches (10 cm) apart. On-site measurement showed the rails were an average of 7.5 inches (19 cm) apart; all of these apartments were built before 1984. For more than two thirds of window related falls, the window was situated within 2 feet (61 cm) of the floor.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Two factors are important in falls from apartment windows and balconies: balcony rails more than 4 inches (10 cm) apart, and windows positioned low to the floor. Current building codes do not apply to older apartments, where most of these falls occurred. Nevertheless, these factors may be amenable to environmental modifications that may prevent most of these falls.
authors.affiliation: Injury Prevention Center of Greater Dallas and PID Associates, Dallas, TX 75235, USA.
authors.forename: G R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Istre
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: McCoy
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stowe
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Davies
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zane
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wiebe
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000061:Accidents, Home / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000293:Adolescent; D002028:Building Codes; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D005260:Female; D006798:Housing / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D012621:Seasons; D013781:Texas / Q000453:epidemiology; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control