Table 3

Associations between personal and environmental characteristics and severity (AIS) of fall injury from play equipment

VariableNumber of cases3-150Severity of injury (%)Odds ratio (95% CI)p Value
(n=930)%AIS 1 (n=387)AIS 2 3 (n=543)
Type of surface<0.01
 Sand42245.345.754.3Ref
 Grass24826.731.568.51.68 (1.17, 2.36)
 Other26028.044.655.41.01 (0.73, 1.39)
Type of playground0.30
 Municipal51955.845.354.7Ref
 School10911.731.268.81.26 (0.79, 2.02)
 Daycare283.057.142.90.65 (0.29, 1.46)
 Residential22824.536.064.01.29 (0.91, 1.84)§
 Others464.943.556.50.76 (0.33, 1.66)
Type of equipment0.62
 Climber19020.437.962.11.19 (0.74, 1.89)
 Module25327.241.158.90.93 (0.58, 1.48)
 Swing17618.942.657.4Ref
 Slide16017.247.552.51.19 (0.74, 1.89)
Accident's location <0.01
 Island of Montreal55659.849.350.7Ref
 Elsewhere37440.230.269.82.03 (1.51, 2.75)
Supervision0.03
 Yes59664.146.353.7Ref
 No33435.933.266.81.39 (1.02, 1.89)
Age (y)
 1–435137.751.049.0Ref<0.01
 5–944147.434.565.51.94 (1.43, 2.63)
 10–1413814.840.659.41.74 (1.13, 2.67)
Sex
 Male50454.241.958.1Ref0.85
 Female42645.841.358.70.97 (0.74, 1.28)
Playground use0.07
 Rarely23625.431.868.2Ref
 Frequently69474.645.055.00.71 (0.51, 0.98)
  • 3-150 Totals may vary because of missing data and to the other category that is not always reported. Adjusted odds ratios (ORa) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated by the logistic regression model with severity of injury as the dependent variable. The final model includes the following independent variables: type of surface, age, location of the accident, month, number of medical visits for an injury per year, playgrounds' utilisation. Mothers' educational level, mother's tongue, sex, number of children in the family, year of accident, type of equipment, supervision, and type of playground were not kept in the final model. Ref indicates the reference category used to calculate the ORa. §Surface and type of playground were highly correlated. ORa was calculated in removing surface. Proxy for the proximity from the hospitals.