During a period of one year, a total of 79 cases of accidental poisoning were registered prospectively in the County Hospital in Aarhus and the City Hospital in Randers. The female/male ratio was 1/1.5. The incidence in children aged 0-14 years of age was 13 per 10,000. In Denmark as a whole, a total of 1,300 cases of accidental poisoning were estimated to occur during a period of one year. Sixty-four (81%) of the accidents occurred in small children aged 0-4 years. Twenty-five patients (32%) were hospitalized. The average duration of hospitalization was 2.4 days (1-4 days) and 84% of the inpatients were aged 0-4 years. The survey revealed that 27 case of accidental poisoning were due to medicine, 20 to organic solvents, eight to chemicals, 22 to poison and two to asphyxiation. It is concluded that the special legal regulations about packing and labelling are not sufficient when storage of the potential poison is not safe enough.
The paper describes the epidemiology of accidents caused by inflatable bouncers. The estimated number of bouncers and bouncing castles in DK was 300-350 in 1993. The data were extracted from the Danish part of the EHLASS project ("the European Home and Leisure Accident Surveillance System). The project registers injuries in five Danish casualty wards, covering a total uptake area of 14.2% of the Danish population. In 1993, there were 91 injuries caused by inflatable bouncers, 37% of them in boys, and 63% in girls. Seventy-nine percent of the injuries were caused by falling, 19% by contact with an object or another person and 2% stress injuries. The type of injury were: bruises 42%, fractures 31%, distorsions 23%, and tendon/muscle strains 3%. The location of the fractures were: one in the spine, two in the clavicle, all other (25) were located in the limbs. Four patients had to be admitted for further observation or treatment. The average cost per injury was 839 dKr., or aprox 150 US$. It does not seem necessary to take special precautions or make restrictions in the use of this new playground article.
In 2011, 88% of all unintentional injury fatalities occurred in home and leisure environments in Sweden, while transportation fatalities accounted for 10% and work/school injuries for 2%. The corresponding proportions among non-fatal injuries were 75, 12 and 13%, respectively. However, 83% of the national governmental expenditure on unintentional injury prevention in 2011 was allocated to transportation safety, 7% to home and leisure, and 10% to the work sector including schools. Likewise, around 85% of the governmental research budget aimed for unintentional injury research was allocated to the transportation sector, 9% to home and leisure environments, and 6% to the work and school sector. Our results reveal a striking lack of correspondence between problem profile and governmental countermeasures.
The vast majority of elderly people in Sweden live in private homes in their communities for as long as possible. Poor health and a high risk of falls are very common among this group. This cross-sectional study investigates the association between falls and general health, appetite, dental health, and the use of multiple medications among home-dwelling men and women aged = 75 years. Data were collected between October 2008 and March 2009 using a postal questionnaire. A total of 1243 people participated in the questionnaire survey (74% response rate), of which 1193 were included in the analysis. The majority of participants were women (n = 738, 62%). Falls in the previous 12-month period were reported by 434 (36%) participants. Most fallers (n = 276, 64%) were women. The majority of the fallers lived in a flat (n = 250, 58%). Poor health (aOR: 1.61; CI: 1.34-1.95), poor dental health (aOR: 1.22; CI: 1.07-1.39) and the use of four or more types of medication daily (aOR: 1.13; CI: 1.03-1.25) were significantly associated with falls in all participants. Poor dental health was found irrespectively of living in a flat (aOR: 1.23; CI: 1.04-1.46) or living in a house (aOR: 1.28; CI: 1.02-1.61), and both were significantly associated with falls. The use of more than four different types of medication daily (aOR: 1.25; CI: 1.11-1.41) was associated with falls for those living in a flat. The results highlight that falls are associated with poor general health, poor dental health and the use of four or more types of medication daily. Health professionals should provide health promotion education and investigate dental health and risk factors for oral disease. Likewise, medical and clinical practices of physicians and community care nurses should include assessing the risk of falling, and treatment that predisposes falls.
Burn injuries in children may cause permanent harm. This study reports data on incidence, injury mechanisms and products that cause burn injuries (in the period 01.01.07-31.12.07) and compares findings with those from previous studies (in 1989 and 1998).
Semi-structured questionnaires were filled in by patients or next-of-kin and health workers at Bergen Accident and Emergency Department, casualty centres in three municipalities in western Norway (Fana, Åsane and Loddefjord) and at the National Burns Centre, Haukeland University Hospital. Missing data were retrieved retrospectively from medical records.
We recorded 142 children with burn injuries; 35% were boys under two years of age. The annual incidence was the same as earlier; 6.6 per 1,000 under five years and 3.1 per 1,000 children under 15 years living in the community of Bergen. Contact injuries and scalds were most common and were caused by contact with ovens, stoves and hot food or liquids. Most children (93%) had less severe burns; 6% (9) were hospitalized (four of them had a non-western background). Almost 95% were given first aid by cooling.
Children under two years, especially boys, are most at risk of burn injuries. Ovens were the cause more often now than before. The incidence has been the same the last 20 years and is the same as that in Trondheim ten years ago. The fact that the small city, Harstad, (northern Norway) attained substantially less injuries after the introduction of preventive actions indicates that such actions are needed to reduce the number of burn injuries among children.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES. The aim of this study was to describe characteristics in burn injuries in children (zero to six years old), consulting primary care and hospital-based care in Malmö, Sweden. Burn-injured children consulting the University Hospital or the 21 Health Centres, during year 1998 and year 2002, were included. BACKGROUND. Epidemiological studies of burns in children have mostly been hospital-based and the cases that never reached the hospital have been excluded. DESIGN. The study had a retroperspective design with data collected from medical records. METHODS. Chi-squared test was used to analyse differences in nominal data and cross tables were used to analyse the proportions between the characteristics of the injuries and sex, age and nationality. RESULTS. The burn-injured children were 148 and 80% of those were scalds, caused by hot liquid (71%) or hot food (29%). The greatest number was boys between one and two years old. Children to foreign born parents were more frequently affected and the extent of the injuries often larger. Almost all the accidents (96%) occurred in home environment, while a family member was next to the child. The Health Centres received more often children affected on hand/arm and by causes like hot food than the University Hospital. CONCLUSIONS. Our data demonstrate the importance of developing a programme for the prevention of paediatric scalds with education of family members to be aware of the danger. With present study the knowledge about the occurrence of injuries in scald accidents in children has become deeper. This knowledge may contribute to more individual adept child accident prevention programme, to use in the child health care.
The aim of this study was to examine the correlations between accidents in traffic, at work, at home, and during sports and leisure time. The study is based on three independent but similar data sets (in 1980 n = 9598, in 1988 n = 13,762, and in 1993 n = 4275) representative of all Finns over 14 years of age. The subjects were asked in a telephone interview to report all accidents in which they had been involved in the previous 12 months. The correlations between different kinds of accidents were low (the highest r = 0.05) although there were many significant correlations. The highest correlations were found between traffic accidents, accidents at work, and sports injuries.
