Finding homes without smoke detectors: one step in planning burn prevention programs.

Residential fires are the leading cause of burn-related deaths in the United States. Smoke detectors could save many of these lives. A 1993 telephone survey of 661 Kentucky households included questions on residential smoke detectors. Statewide, 16.4% of households did not possess a functioning smoke detector; however, in nonmetropolitan Appalachian counties, 30.5% of households lacked detectors. Characteristics associated with lack of a functioning smoke detector, as determined by multivariate logistic regression, were as follows: living in a nonapartment dwelling (odds ratio [OR] = 4.14, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.42 to 12.01); having an annual household income of $20,000 or less (OR = 2.34, CI = 1.49 to 3.68); being unmarried (OR = 1.73, CI = 1.12 to 2.69); living alone (OR = 1.69, CI = 1.02 to 2.80); and living in a nonmetropolitan county (OR = 1.68, CI = 1.05 to 2.69). Knowledge of these population-based characteristics can assist planners of burn prevention programs to target at-risk populations.