Unintentional Injuries

Statistical Publication Notice

15 December 2009

Unintentional Injuries

INTRODUCTION

• emergency hospital admissions as a result of an unintentional injury up to financial year ending 31 March 2009.
• deaths caused by unintentional injury up to year ending 31 December 2008.

KEY POINTS

• In 2008/09, unintentional injuries accounted for approximately 1 in 7 emergency hospital admissions for children and 1 in 9 for adults.
• In 2008/09, there were approximately 372,000 patients admitted to hospital as an emergency. Approximately 16% of these were admitted as a result of an unintentional injury.
• The number of emergency admissions to hospital, due to unintentional injuries, has decreased from 66,087 in 1999/00 to 62,415 in 2008/09 (a decrease of 5.6%). There has also been a decrease in the number of deaths as a result of an unintentional injury from 1,367 in 2000 to 1,283 in 2008 (a decrease of 6.1%).
• In 2008 approximately 1 in 16 childhood deaths are due to an unintentional injury. In adults, deaths due to an unintentional injury account for approximately 1 in 44 deaths.

INTERPRETATION

• Data for the year ending 31 March 2009 are still considered to be provisional and will be subject to change in future updates. SMR01 is considered to be 99% complete for the year ending 31 March 2009. Further information on SMR data completeness is shown at the following link: http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/1607.html
• NHS Board and Community Health Partnership data should be treated with caution, as ratios are based on small numbers and may vary significantly from year to year and between NHS Boards.

DETAILED FINDINGS

Children (0-14 years)

• In all age groups, boys are more likely than girls to be admitted to hospital owing to unintentional injury.
• Children in the most deprived areas are over one and a half times as likely to be admitted to hospital and more than twice as likely to die as a result of unintentional injury as children in the least deprived areas.
• For unintentional injuries in children, the most common cause of emergency admission to hospital is falls while road traffic accidents is the most common cause of death, accounting for most (82%) childhood deaths.
• Injuries in the home account for over one third of emergency admissions to hospital.  Children in the 1-4 age group account for over half of these admissions.
• Number of emergency admissions due to unintentional injury in children has decreased from 12,558 in 1999/2000 to 8,504 in 2008/2009 (a fall of almost 32%) and the number of death due to unintentional injury in children has decreased from 36 in 2000 to 23 in 2008 (a reduction of around 36%).

Adults (15 years and over)

• Males under 65 are more likely than females of the same age to be admitted to a hospital owing to an unintentional injury. However, this is reversed for ages 65 and over where females are more likely to be admitted.
• Adults in the most deprived areas are over twice as likely to be admitted to hospital and almost twice (1.8 times) as likely to die as a result of unintentional injury as adults in the least deprived areas.
• For unintentional injuries in adults, falls are the most common cause of emergency admission to hospital and the most common cause of death.
• Unintentional injuries in the home account for approximately a quarter of all emergency admissions to hospital as a result of an unintentional injury in adults. The 75 and over age group accounts for half of these admissions.
• The number of emergency admissions due to unintentional injury in adults has risen slightly from 53,529 in 1999/2000 to 53,911 in 2008/2009 (a rise of around 1%) while the number of deaths due to unintentional injury in adults has fallen from 1,331 in 2000 to 1,260 in 2008 (a fall of around 5%).
• The majority of emergency hospital admissions caused by assault by sharp object are for young adults aged between 15 and 34 years. Deaths caused by assault by sharp object do not show the same pattern, with more deaths amongst 45-64 year olds than any other age group.
• For assault by sharp object, there are almost 15 times more emergency hospital admissions and six times more deaths amongst males than females.
• The number of emergency hospital admissions due to assault by sharp object have increased from 1,296 in 2000 to 1,333 in 2008 (an increase of almost 3%) while the number of deaths due to assault by sharp object have increased from 43 in 2000 to 46 in 2008 (an increase of around 7%).

MAIN CONTACTS:

Andrew Lee
Statistician
0131 275 7594
andrew.lee6@nhs.net

GLOSSARY:

The term "unintentional injury" is preferred to "accidents" as the latter implies events are inevitable and unavoidable whereas a high proportion of these incidents are now regarded as being preventable. 

PRE-RELEASE ACCESS:

HISTORY OF THIS PUBLICATION:

Last Published: 16 December 2008
Next Due: December 2010
Data Available Since: Most emergency admission data is available from financial year ending 31 March 2004 although some figures are provided from year ending 31 March 1998.  Most death data is available from calendar years ending 31 December 2003 although some figures are provided from year ending 31 December 1985.

Main contact: Andrew Lee

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