Interventions to reduce accidents in childhood: a systematic review

To review the literature on interventions planned to prevent the incidence of injuries in childhood. The PubMed, Web of Science, and Bireme databases were searched by two independent reviewers, employing the single terms accidents, accident, injuries, injury, clinical trial, intervention, educational intervention, and multiple interventions, and their combinations, present in the article title or abstract, with no limits except period of publication (2006–2016) and studies in human subjects. Initially, 11,097 titles were located. Fifteen articles were selected for the review. Eleven were randomized trials (four carried out at the children's households, five in pediatric healthcare services, and two at schools), and four were non-randomized trials carried out at the children's households. Four of the randomized trials were analyzed by intention-to-treat and a protective effect of the intervention was observed: decrease in the number of risk factors, decrease in the number of medical consultations due to injuries, decrease in the prevalence of risk behaviors, and increase of the parents’ knowledge regarding injury prevention in childhood. Traumatic injuries in childhood are amenable to primary prevention through strategies that consider the child's age and level of development, as well as structural aspects of the environment. Revisar a literatura sobre intervenções voltadas à prevenção de acidentes na infância. As bases PubMed, Web of Science e Bireme foram rastreadas por dois revisores independentes, utilizando os termos accidents, accident, injuries, injury, clinical trial, intervention, educational intervention e multiple interventions, e suas combinações, presentes no título ou resumo do artigo, sem limites, exceto o período de publicação (2006-2016) e estudos realizados em humanos. Foram localizados inicialmente 11.097 títulos. Foram selecionados 15 artigos para esta revisão, dos quais 11 eram ensaios randomizados (quatro realizados em domicílios, cinco em serviços de saúde e dois em escolas) e quatro, ensaios não randomizados realizados em domicílios. Quatro dos estudos randomizados foram analisados por intenção de tratar e mostraram efeito favorável da intervenção: redução de fatores de risco para acidentes, diminuição do número de atendimentos médicos por acidentes, menor frequência de comportamentos de risco e maior conhecimento dos pais sobre prevenção de acidentes na infância. As lesões traumáticas na infância são passíveis de prevenção primária