bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The use of conspicuity aids by cyclists and risk of accidents involving other road users: a population based case–control study
Authors: Miller P , Kendrick D , Coupland C , Coffey F
Published: March 2011

Background

Regular cycling has been shown to improve health and has a role in tackling obesity and inactivity. Cycle collisions, particularly those involving motorised vehicles, can lead to significant mortality and morbidity and are currently a barrier to wider uptake of cycling. There is evidence that the conspicuity of cyclists is a factor in many injury collisions. Low-cost, easy to use retro-reflective and fluorescent clothing and accessories (conspicuity aids) are widely available. Their effectiveness in reducing bicycle collision accidents is unknown. This study investigated the relationship between the use of conspicuity aids and the risk of crashes involving another road user for utility and commuter cyclists.

Methods

A matched case–control study was conducted.

Cases

Adult commuter and utility cyclists involved in accidents resulting from a collision or attempted evasion of a collision with another road user recruited at a UK emergency department.

Controls

Commuter and utility cyclists matched by journey purpose, time and day of travel and geographical area recruited at public and private cycle parking. Data on the use of conspicuity aids, accident circumstances, environmental conditions, demographics, cycling experience, safety equipment use and journey characteristics was collected using self-completed questionnaires and maps. Conditional logistic regression was used to calculate adjusted ORs and 95% CIs of the risk of accidents when using any item of fluorescent or reflective clothing or equipment.

Results

Results and supporting analysis will be presented.
Work-related road traffic injuries in Tanzania: evidence for improving workers compensation law in developing countries
Authors: Kishashu Y M , Franzblau A , Robins T , Smith G
Published: March 2011

Background

Work-related road traffic injuries represent a considerable burden to society, affecting people in the most productive years of their lives. Severe work-related injuries and the resulting adverse socio-economic impacts, represent a special burden to developing countries. This study, which was conducted in Tanzania, sought to describe patterns of severe traumatic work-related injuries; identify their causes and risk factors; evaluate the quality of reporting work-related injuries and; identify strategies for their prevention and control in Tanzania and other developing countries.

Methods

Data were collected through structured interviews with 1385 injury cases admitted in the largest trauma hospital in Tanzania from March 2007 to March 2008. Detailed information was collected after work-relatedness of a case was established. Information from interviews was linked with hospital records, workers compensation and police data.

Findings

A total of 638 (46%) injury cases were classified as work-related injuries, and majority were male-workers (93%). Road traffic injury was the most common reason for admission (62%) followed by falls (15%). Road was the leading place of injury (64%) followed by work premises (27%). Walking on the road side was the most common activity at the time of injury (33.5%) followed by travelling (28.4%).

Conclusions

The study revealed need for improving workers compensation law in Tanzania and other developing countries in order to cover more workers. From this new evidence, commuting injuries are now covered under the new workers compensation legislation in Tanzania.
The WHO Injury Surveillance Guidelines, an aid or not?
Authors: Holder Y
Published: March 2011

The WHO Injury Surveillance Guidelines were published in English in 2001. Since then, the manual has been translated into at least three other languages and been applied to a wide range of situations in countries from China to the Czech Republic to Colombia. From the 127 scientific citations, this paper explores the several uses of the Guidelines, some obvious, others unique and unexpected.
Ethanol powered appliances: the French approach to improve their safety
Authors: Weil F , Peter Y
Published: March 2011

Ethanol powered appliances (EPA) are usually marketed in a rather up-market position. In France, these products were marketed at low prices from the beginning, and the number of sales grew rapidly, whereas the safety of these devices was a concern. Accordingly, the DGCCRF (French national market surveillance authority) gave an impetus in 2006–2007 for the professionals to have their appliances certified, and to start a Standardisation Committee within the AFNOR. Several events an accident, a study from the Consumer Safety Commission (CSC) highlighting EPA as hazardous as regards burn, fire and intoxication hazards, and media campaign – made the DGCCRF quicken the pace of its actions in order to improve their safety:

The professionals were reminded in the Economy Ministry Recommendation published in theFrench Republic Official Journal(November 2008) that their products had to meet the general safety requirement;

A survey was launched in order to have a comprehensive overview of operators and their products, and analyse the safety level of each appliance.

It was decided to create a Select Committee within the AFNOR Standardisation Committee composed with the DGCCRF, CSC, LNE (national laboratory of conformance-testing) and other Administrations (Health, Housing, Fire Safety). As a result, the French standard NF D 35–386 (Ethanol-fired appliances Safety requirements and test methods), whose specificity is to integrate fail-safe devices, has been published in August 2009. France is now willing to promote this standard internationally. This is an example of the French approach bringing stakeholders together for a common goal.
Injuries in Croatia in the period 2004–2008
Authors: Bilos I Brkic , Kralj V , Hrabak-Zerjavic V , Coric T
Published: March 2011

Objective

The objective of this paper was to show the analysis of mortality and morbidity from injuries by external causes (V01-Y98; ICD-10) in Croatia in the period 2004–2008, as a contribution to the knowledge of this public health problem.

Materials and Methods

Routine health morbidity and mortality statistics and WHO/HFA database were used and expressed as percentage shares, PYLLs as well as crude and standardised rates.

Results

On Croatias mortality scale in period 2004–2008 injuries with an average share of 5.7% in total mortality ranked third (2006 and 2008) or fourth (2004 and 2005) behind cardiovascular diseases, neoplasms and respiratory diseases. General mortality (average rate: 65.3/100 000) for injuries did not change significantly between 2004 and 2008. Given the premature mortality indicator potential years of life lost (age: 1–75) injuries ranked third, following after neoplasms and cardiovascular diseases. Suicides, traffic accidents and falls are the leading external causes of death. The standardised injury mortality for all ages was 53.3/100 000 in Croatia in 2006 (last available comparative data from WHO/HFA-DB). It surpassed the EU average (40.4/100 000), but remained lower than the European region average (76/100 000). With an average share of 7.9% in the causes of hospital treatment, injuries ranked sixth. Falls accounted for one third of the causes of injury-related hospitalisations, most commonly in persons older than 65.

Conclusion

Because they account for a large part of total mortality and morbidity, injuries represent a major public health problem in Croatia. A systematic implementation of preventive programmes is thus required.
Creation and early development of an injury observatory for Britain and Ireland (IOBI)
Authors: Stone D , Lyons R A , Turner S , Quigg Z , Barron S , Bellis M A , Brown P , Fischbacher C , Hughes K , Kirkwood G , Lumsden E , Pollock A , Shepherd J , Slater W , Towner E , Verne J
Published: March 2011

Objectives

The Injury Observatory for Britain and Ireland (IOBI) is an innovative collaboration between the Association of Public Health Observatories and several academic institutions in the four UK home countries and Ireland. Its purpose is to support injury prevention practitioners by making relevant information and tools available through one website.

Methods

IOBI emerged from a series of informal meetings of interested professionals in 2004–2005. Being a virtual organisation, IOBI has neither a base nor core funding though many of the constituent organisations receive funding from central or devolved government agencies. The IOBI websitehttp://www.injuryobservatory.netwas established in 2007. It enables access to a range of material including injury data across regions and countries, guidance on interpretating injury data, systematic reviews of injury prevention and government strategies on injury prevention. In 2008 we launched an e-newsletter, Injury Prevention News, and added new resources to the website, including an analysis of injury mortality by country and region.

Results

Key recent achievements include: organisation of the second Injury Prevention Conference for the UK and Ireland in 2009 a comparative analysis of injury hospitalisations to complement mortality data advising on pilots to collect enhanced emergency department data in the UK performing a survey of readers views on Injury Prevention News.

Conclusions

Our experience with IOBI demonstrates the need for a forum for injury prevention collaboration in the British Isles. Its success will ultimately be judged by the extent to which it stimulates an increase in injury prevention practice and research.
Review of association between awareness and wearing of helmet
Authors: Medhati Mostafa , Moghadami Mohsen , Hadizadeh E
Published: March 2011

Today motorcycle has a significant role of transportation due to high speed and small size and high power mobility. Considering that helmet have significant effects in reducing damage and mortality of motorcycle riders. A lot of interventions are done based on just to education and awareness promotion about of benefit of using helmet for motorcycle riders.

Methods

This case control study is done on 500 motorcycle riders that have helmet during the interview (as the case) and 500 motorcycle riders that haven't helmet at that time (as control).

Finding

Between degrees of awareness of them of benefit of using helmet and the people who had worn helmet during interview didn't find any significant association. The most group of education was less than high school (44%).There was not significant association between education and using helmet. 37.8% of people that hadn't worn helmet they had helmet that 87.4% this group had bought as voluntarily. The most important reasons regarding the lack of using helmet in control group is as follows: (1) heaviness and harassment (53.5%). The number of people in case group that had certification motorcycle riders was significantly more than the control group.

Conclusion

We know one of the most important of activities for injury prevention base on public education and awareness has been done.
The 24-h distribution of falls and person-hours of physical activity in the home are strongly associated among community dwelling older persons
Authors: Wijlhuizen G Jan , Chorus A M J , Hopman-Rock M
Published: March 2011

Objectives

Most research on falls among older persons focuses on health-related factors that affect the ability to maintain balance. The objective of the study is to determine the association between physical activity and occurrence of falls among community-dwelling older persons.

Methods

The distribution of falls and person-hours of physical activity in the home over 24 h was compared. The falls data (n=501) were extracted from a pooled dataset of three follow-up studies conducted between 1994 and 2005 (n=3587). The 1995 Dutch National Time-Budget Survey provided hour-by-hour information on activities performed by older individuals (n=459) in the home; this sample was representative for the Netherlands. The association between the 24-h distribution of falls and physical activity and the risk of falling (the ratio between the distribution of falls and physical activity) were determined. Participants were community dwelling older persons aged 65 years and older.

Results

More physical activity was positively associated with more falls (Spearman correlation=0.89, p<0.000). The risk of falling at night (1:00 to 6:00) was almost eight times higher compared to 7:00 to 12:00.

Conclusions

Physical activity is strongly associated with the number of falls in the home, measured over 24 h. Older persons may be at increased risk of falling if they are encouraged to become more physically active, or if they often get out of bed at night. Thus in addition to health-related factors, also changes in level of physical activity should be taken into account when estimating a persons risk of falling.
The quality improvement in trauma care system; Khon Kaen Hospital;Thailand
Authors: Tippayanate N
Published: March 2011

Background

Khon Kaen Hospital is the second level of trauma excellence centre in Thailand. The numbers of injury were increasing year by year, therefore the continuing quality improvements in trauma care were needed (ie, trauma alert team, MM-death case conference, root cause analysis and trauma quality round).

Objectives

To know the injury epidemiology and to monitor the quality of trauma care.

Methods

To compare the injury and death rate related with mean Injury Severity Scale (ISS) before and after implementation. Injury Surveillance software was used with retrospective database of all injuries between 1 January 2008 and 30 June 2009, all analysed by descriptive statistics (ie, correlation, t test).

Results

The number of injury was of 24 417 cases (male 16 267: female 8150). The trend of injury rate was increasing at 2.4% rate, with a mean age of deaths decreasing from 35.7 to 33.4 years old, bearing male injury rate increasing from 66.6% to 68.3%. It was found that the gender and age had an impact on the severity (p=0.000) and the severity had a significant impact on mortality and survival rate (p=0.000). The admission numbers showed 7860 cases (32%), the survival rate increased from 90.3% to 92.9%, with an increasing mean of ISS from 6.8 to 7.3, while the mortality decreased from 1.64% to 1.39% with stable mean ISS (27.4–27.6).

Conclusion

These results could be used to confirm the quality of trauma care in hospital was improving and the quality improvement activities should be continued and disseminated.
Swimming and injury prevention for Aboriginal communities in Ontario
Authors: Fuselli P
Published: March 2011

The injury death rate among Aboriginal infants/children is almost four times higher than the Canadian population – Aboriginal toddlers are 15 times more likely to drown than other children. Why? Because many communities are close to open water that are used for livelihood, transportation and recreation and have less access to swimming lessons/lifesaving training. The need to provide training in swimming and injury prevention has been identified as necessary by Aboriginal communities.

Goals

▶

develop a culture of water safety

▶

engage/foster collaboration among families, communities and the injury prevention sector

▶

establish linkages between the Canadian Red Cross, Safe Kids Canada and Aboriginal communities.

Canadian Red Cross and Safe Kids Canada consulted with Aboriginal communities to develop a shared responsibility approach and create effective messaging/teaching strategies that used the learn to swim/first aid programmes and drowning prevention resources. The learn to swim/first aid programmes target specific age group to address the causes of injury for each. Education programmes teach children how to swim and parents how to prevent drowning, injuries in their home and their community.

Year One

▶

communities were identified

▶

learn to swim programme was developed in consultation with parents, extended families, elders and other community members and in an Aboriginal friendly learning environment

▶

over 100 children and parents were trained in swimming and injury prevention.

Year Two

▶

two Aboriginal teens/adults were trained as water safety instructors in six reserves

▶

water safety information starts to become part of a new safety culture

▶

reserves have new knowledge and instructors provide annual lessons and support parents to make environments safer

▶

increased access to first aid training and trained people who assist others.
Injury alliance in Canada
Authors: Fuselli P , Baker P Kellsbert , Nesdale-Tucker R
Published: March 2011

To achieve greater societal impact within a highly competitive charitable marketplace, the four major, national, injury prevention organisations have decided to collaborate toward the following purposes:

Long-term goal

To save more lives and prevent more potentially life-altering injuries in Canada.

Medium-term objective

To raise awareness and to facilitate attitudinal and behavioural shifts among the organisations respective target populations, in partnership with their natural allies, of best practices in preventing injuries, and injury-related deaths in Canada.

Short-term output

The development of recommendations, an implementation plan and supporting documentation for a game changer that will build their capacity as individual organisations to promote more effective and efficient strategies and programming.

Seek better ways and means to identify, integrate and approve the collaborative delivery of:

▶

knowledge creation, synthesis and transfer

▶

stakeholder engagement

▶

fund development

▶

marketing.

This presentation will share the outcomes of phase I of the study in terms of defining the ideal inputs and outputs, catalogue these inputs and outputs in relation to the sponsoring organisations, describe what is unique about those inputs and outputs among the sponsoring organisations and what is shared by two or more of them, project and outline the benefits that the collaborative delivery of the function could bring, advance recommendations for amending existing processes, or introduce new ones for more suitably identifying, overseeing, managing and assessing future shared initiatives within each function, describe one or more approaches for resourcing such collaborative processes on a go-forward basis, propose a strategic or 3-year outlook for the frameworks operation.
Three group of peoples perceptions of children bicycle injury risks, causes and prevention in the rural southern China: a focus group study
Authors: Ye Y , Li L , Lu Y , Gao Y , Griffiths S
Published: March 2011

Background

Road traffic injury has been a second leading cause of death in children unintentional injuries in China. Little is known about on bicycle injury in rural China. This study aims to investigate the perception of students, parents and teachers about children bicycle injury.

Methods

Qualitative, exploratory, descriptive study. Criterion sampling. Data collected between April 2009 and June 2009 through semi-structured focus groups, with a topic guide. 104 participants (47 male/57 female) from Liangying County (n=68), Fuyang County (n=36), which in rural village of Chaoshan region, China, with three groups including student (n=45), teacher (n=37) and parent (n=22).

Results

Participants described poor road conditions, safety hazards and great impact of road traffic injuries on children while they seldom suggest measures to prevent children bicycle injury. Perception of hazards appeared to be related to different groups. Parents and teachers described poorer road conditions than students, which they attributed to the low developed economics status and deficient supervision of local government. Informants believed that fast cycling speed, non-observance of traffic rules among children, lacking awareness of road safety among all road users left children go on threatening by bicycle injury. Parents and students also valued the quality of bicycle most.

Conclusions

The road safety needs of children must be addressed at the adults level, while improving the enforcement of existing health and safety regulations. The roles that government supervision and improvements of road condition played in injury prevention should be considered.
The influence of socioeconomic disparities across source populations on the results of trauma centre performance evaluations in a Canadian trauma system
Authors: Moore L , Lavoie A , Turgeon A F , Sirois M J , Murat V
Published: March 2011

The evaluation of acute trauma care is essential to the effort of alleviating the societal burden of injury. Trauma centre performance evaluations generally include adjustment for anatomic injury severity, physiological reaction to injury, physiological reserve and transfer status. However, socioeconomic status (SES) has been shown to be related to health outcomes and disparities across trauma centre source populations may bias performance evaluations. We aimed to evaluate whether SES influences risk-adjusted mortality following trauma in an inclusive trauma system with free access to medical care. The study was based on patients treated for major trauma in the inclusive trauma system of the province of Quebec, Canada (1999–2006). SES was quantified using an ecological index of material and social deprivation via patients residential postal code. Hierarchical logistic regression was used to evaluate the independent influence of SES on hospital mortality. The study sample comprised a total of 88 235 patients from 59 trauma centres, including 4731 deaths (5.4%). The proportion of patients in the highest quintile of material and social deprivation varied from 11% to 90% and from 3% to 43% across hospitals, respectively. After adjusting for anatomic injury severity, physiological reaction to injury, physiological reserve and transfer status, neither material (OR 0.97, 95% CI 0.94 to 1.01) nor social deprivation (OR 1.02, 95% CI 0.99 to 1.06) were associated with hospital mortality. This study suggests that in an inclusive trauma system with free access to healthcare, disparities in SES across source populations should not lead to biased trauma centre mortality evaluations, providing an adequate risk adjustment strategy is used.
Comparison of trauma centre outcome performance for young adults and geriatric patients
Authors: Moore L , Lavoie A , Turgeon A F
Published: March 2011

The increasing number of geriatric trauma patients in developed countries is a preoccupation at every stage in the continuum of trauma care. In the acute care setting, elderly patients require specific care strategies and patient outcome may be compromised by varying degrees of dedication to geriatric trauma across hospitals. We hypothesised that the performance of trauma centres in the population of geriatric patients differs to that among young adults. Analyses were based on the evaluation of hospital mortality across the 59 trauma centres of the inclusive trauma system in the province of Quebec, Canada (1999–2006). Trauma centre evaluation was based on estimates of risk-adjusted mortality generated using a random-intercept hierarchical logistic regression model. Adjustment was performed with a risk score generated by the Trauma Risk Adjustment Model. Results for young adults (16–64 years) and geriatric patients (≥65 years) were compared using hospital ranks and outliers. Among the 55 355 young adult patients, mortality was 3.6%. Among the 30 983 geriatric patients, mortality was 8.4%. The two populations only had 2 out of 10 outliers in common. The Spearman's correlation coefficient describing agreement between hospital ranks was 0.201 (95% CI −0.061 to 0.436). Results indicate that trauma centre performance in the geriatric trauma population may be very different to that observed for young adults. This research suggests that the two populations should be evaluated separately and quality improvement efforts should be designed for each population individually.
Association between socioeconomic status and access to trauma care for victims of injury in a Canadian trauma system
Authors: Moore L , Lavoie A , Turgeon A F , Sirois M J , Murat V
Published: March 2011

The association between low socioeconomic status (SES) and increased population-based risk of injury is well documented. However, little is known about the association between SES and access to trauma care. We aimed to evaluate the association between SES and time to definitive trauma care in an inclusive Canadian trauma system. SES was quantified using an ecological index of material deprivation via patients residential postal code. Data was drawn from the Quebec trauma registry based on mandatory data collection for all patients with major trauma treated within the inclusive provincial trauma system (1999–2006). The association between SES and time to definitive care was evaluated using hierarchical linear regression. The study sample comprised 88 235 patients treated in 59 trauma centres. The proportion of patients in the highest quintile of material deprivation ranged from 16% in metropolitan regions to 71% in regions with no metropolitan influence. Following adjustment for injury severity, age and comorbidity, those in the highest quintile of material deprivation had a mean time to definitive care 0.926 h longer (p<0.0001) than those in the lowest quintile. However, after adjustment for region of residence, the mean time difference approached zero (0.075 h, p=0.2). High material deprivation is associated with longer delays to definitive care. However, this association appears to be entirely explained by the fact that patients with high material deprivation are more likely to live in rural regions and are therefore further from hospitals offering definitive trauma care.
Slipping as outcome: implications for epidemiologic research on fall-related injuries
Authors: Courtney T K , Verma S K , Huang Y H , Chang W R , Li K W , Filiaggi A J
Published: March 2011

One major challenge to the study of occupational injuries in active work environments is the rarity of the outcome. Slipping, tripping and falling are responsible for a substantial injury burden in the global workplace. Slipping is an important precursor to falling and subsequent injury though not every slip results in a fall or injury. We applied epidemiologic methods to study individual and work environment factors related to self-reported slipping in US fast food restaurant workers.

Ten limited service restaurants in the Northeastern USA were recruited to participate. Workers occupational slip and/or fall history within the past 4 weeks was collected along with age, gender, job tenure, work hours per week and work. Shoe type, condition and gross shoe contamination were visually assessed. Floor friction was measured. The logistic generalised estimating equations model was used to compute adjusted ORs.

126 workers (60% female, mean age 30) participated. Multivariable regression showed that higher restaurant mean coefficient of friction (COF) was significantly associated with a decreased risk of self-reported slipping in the past 4 weeks (OR 0.59, 95% CI 0.42 to 0.82). From the highest to the lowest COF restaurant, the odds of a positive slip history increased more than seven times. Younger age, male gender, lower weekly work hours and the presence of gross contamination on workers shoe sole were also positively associated with slipping.

Using self-reported slipping as an upstream measure of outcome may make assessment of risk factors and interventions for fall-related injuries more feasible.
The location of child cyclist versus motor vehicle collisions in an urban environment
Authors: Rothman L , Howard A
Published: March 2011

Background

Cycling is a popular activity for children. Cyclists are disproportionately represented in motor collisions, and these collisions are frequently severe. This analysis was conducted to determine the age-specific variation in location of cyclist versus motor vehicle collision in children ages 1–17 years, in Toronto, Canada in order to identify appropriate prevention strategies.

Methods

All police-reported cyclist-motor vehicle collisions involving children ages 1–17 between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2005 were included. Age-specific ORs were calculated to compare differences in collision locations. Geographic Information System software was used to identify major versus neighbourhood roads.

Results

There were 1325 police-reported collisions involving child cyclists with the majority (57%) involving 13–17 year olds. Collision rates were consistently higher in teenagers compared to younger children. Children ages 9–12 had almost twice and children ages 13–17 almost four times greater odds of collision on major roads as compared with 5–8-year-old children. Children ages 9–12 had a three times and children ages 13–17 had a four times greater odds of collisions at intersections (vs midblock) compared with 5–8-year-old children.

Conclusions

Younger children (ages 5–8) require more options for safe off-road cycling in their neighbourhoods as they generally are involved in collisions on smaller neighbourhood roads and in midblock locations. Older children (ages 9–17) require training in order to learn to safely negotiate intersections and vehicular traffic on larger roadways. It is essential to consider the age of children in order to plan successful strategies to encourage safe cycling.
The influence of crossing controls and crossing location on severity of injury among urban pedestrians
Authors: Rothman L , Howard A
Published: March 2011

Background

Pedestrian injuries impose a significant burden on society, particularly in urban environments. The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between severity of pedestrian injury and presence of crossing controls at intersections and midblock locations in a large urban centre.

Methods

The data were obtained from the City of Toronto's Traffic Data Centre and Safety Bureau. All police-reported motor vehicle collisions involving pedestrians between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2005 were included. Logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between injury severity and the location of the collision.

Results

There were 98.6/100 000 motor vehicle versus pedestrian collisions. 11/100 000 of these collisions resulted in severe injury and 1.4/100 000 resulted in fatal injury. At intersections, absence of a crossing control conferred a 1.8 greater odds of severe injury and a four times greater odds of fatal injury compared to where controls were present. At midblock locations, crossing controls did not reduce the odds of a severe or fatal injury; there was a 1.5 times greater odds of either severe/fatal injury at midblock locations compared to intersections with crossing controls.

Discussion

More intersection crossing controls would decrease the severity of pedestrian injury by slowing down traffic. Midblock crossing controls do not appear to have the same effect. There were 86 fatalities which occurred at uncontrolled midblock locations and overall, midblock fatalities represented 44% of all fatal pedestrian collisions. Effective strategies to deal with pedestrian midblock collisions are essential, considering the large injury burden these collisions represent.
Allocation of Australia's research dollars: does injury research funding reflect injury burden?
Authors: Mitchell R , McClure R , Olivier J , Watson W
Published: March 2011

Introduction

Burden of disease estimates have been used to inform prioritisation of research needs. In Australia, National Health Priority Areas (NHPAs), of which injury prevention is one, have been identified as priorities for prevention and research. The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) is the principal source of medical research funding in Australia. This research aims to examine NHMRC funding for each NHPA to quantify the relationship between grants awarded and burden of disease measures.

Method

A retrospective analysis of NHMRC funding from 2000 to 2008 to assess the strength of correlation between level of funding and the contribution of each NHPA to burden of disease measures (YLD, YLL, DALY) and health system expenditure was conducted. Also examined were observed versus expected research grants by grant type relative to the proportional contribution of each NHPA to DALYs.

Results

There were 6099 new and continuing grants awarded, ranging from a total of $A94.6 to $A423.3 million during 2000–2008. Both YLL and DALYs were strongly correlated with NHMRC funding. Injury received a lesser number of scholarships, overseas training fellowships, career awards, research project and programme grants than what would be expected based on its proportional contribution to total NHPA DALYs.

Conclusion

Injury research and investigator training appears to be underfunded by the NHMRC in Australia based on burden of disease measures. Investigator training dollars should be allocated to ensure an optimum workforce distribution that is capable of undertaking research in areas deemed to be of national importance.
The development of a human factors classification framework for patient safety
Authors: Mitchell R , Williamson A , Molesworth B
Published: March 2011

Introduction

Numerous taxonomies have been developed to attempt to identify the human factors contribution to adverse events in complex industries. In healthcare these taxonomies have often focused on outcomes, do not consider the temporal sequence of causal factors or assess framework reliability. The aims of this research are to develop a framework for human factors analysis of adverse medical events and to assess framework reliability in identifying the contribution of human factors and error to these events.

Method

A multi-stage process was used to develop the framework. A systematic review of the literature identified existing human factors tools used in healthcare and other complex industries. A draft framework is in the process of review and refinement following classifications of adverse medical events in Australia to assess inter-rater reliability.

Results

The framework allows for the classification of precursor events, that is, the causal chain which led directly to the event occurring, and contributing factors, that is, pre-existing conditions that led to the event occurring. The prime considerations in developing the tool have been good validity, a theoretical basis, comprehensive coverage of error types to allow understanding of cognitive failures, as well as evidence that the classification tool could be used reliably.

Conclusion

The framework will provide opportunities to improve our understanding of adverse medical events by identifying the prime causal chain for these events, along with other contributing factors. The development of a reliable human factors classifi cation framework provides better direction for preventive efforts to reduce adverse medical events.
Examining the validity of emergency department textual data for injury surveillance purposes
Authors: Scott D , Barker R , Nand G , Horth L , Smith P , McKenzie K
Published: March 2011

Injury surveillance data provides the evidence base to inform injury prevention programme and policy development. The Queensland Injury Surveillance Unit (QISU) collects data on emergency department (ED) injury presentations at Queensland hospitals. When a patient presents for treatment of an injury, the triage nurse activates an injury surveillance screen and assigns codes for intent, place, part of place, activity, subtype of activity, major injury factor, mechanism and external cause of injury. In busy ED situations this can be time consuming, 3–5 min/record. QISU investigated the possibility of reducing the number of coded fields and having QISU coders assign the remaining codes based on the triage presenting problem text field. 500 records were randomly sampled from the database. Two experienced QISU coders were blinded to the codes assigned at triage and recoded the records using only the presenting problem text descriptor. The quality of the information contained within the text descriptor was assessed by recording what variables were able to be coded from the text descriptor. Concordance between data coded by triage nurses and QISU coders was compared. There was variability in the concordance of codes and the quality of the text descriptor between facilities, injury type and patient groups. This information will be used to streamline data collection by reducing the number of variables coded by the triage nurse and demonstrates the utility of textual data for injury surveillance purposes.
Trauma deaths magnitude in a state of Mexico: active versus passive injury surveillance system
Authors: Penuelas J E , Verdugo-Correa J E , Gil-Pineda J A , Ramirez-Zepeda M G
Published: March 2011

Introduction

Recent estimations of the magnitude of deaths by traffic accidents in Mexico, question the reliability of the official data of the Informatics, Geography and Statistics National Institute, about trauma deaths (Passive Surveillance System).

Objective

To determine the magnitude of trauma deaths in a state of Mexico, through an active epidemiological surveillance system, and compare it with the one officially reported.

Material and methods

In 2007, we registered the deaths by injuries in the state of Sinaloa (2.64 millions of people, US$5400 GDP per capita), using five sources of information: death certificates, press reports, hospital records, traffic police reports and the brief of the Department of Justice.

Each case was compared to avoid duplicity and verified for at least two sources. We got the totals, and by external cause according to the ICD-10, and we compared them with the official information.

Results

We got, through the active surveillance, 1985 trauma deaths, versus 1826 from the official data.

Important differences were found in the following: accidents 1173 versus 1327, traffic accidents 767 versus 546, falls 137 versus 21, accidents by firearm 10 versus 180 and homicides 706 versus 402.

Conclusions

The magnitude of trauma deaths determined by an active injury surveillance system is 9% higher than the one reported by the passive system (official information). The difference between the magnitudes according to external cause are even more accentuated. We recommend the active injury surveillance system to determine the real magnitude of the problem in Mexico.
Developmental differences in pedestrian visual search patterns
Authors: Barton B , Kovesdi C
Published: March 2011

Measuring attention to traffic is common in pedestrian safety studies. However, little is known of how visual search patterns affect safe crossing decisions or to what pedestrians are actually attending. Our work has two aims: (1) examining visual search patterns in both commercial and residential settings and (2) exploring developmental differences in pedestrian visual search tasks by comparing children ages 5–9 to adults.

22 adults ages 19 and older have participated, with another 30 adult participants scheduled. Data from 40 children ages 5–9 will be collected prior to June 2010. Participants view paired images of pedestrian settings in a series of trials in a change-blindness task. Each whole image is paired with an altered image containing pedestrian safety-relevant and irrelevant differences. Participants attempt to locate differences over a 2-min period. Time and frequency of attending to safety-relevant and irrelevant areas in each task are recorded by a desk-mounted eye tracking system.

Significant effects are already emerging. Adults location of relevant safety stimuli is more effortful and their visual search is less efficient when presented with a commercial image (ie, more cars, signs and signals adding visual clutter). Strong developmental effects also are expected; children will be less efficient and more distracted by visual clutter in the pedestrian environment.

Results will extend knowledge in two ways. First they will highlight the importance of children's developing visual search skills for pedestrian safety. Second, results will expand knowledge of how all pedestrians process complex visual stimuli in pedestrian settings.
Developmental influences on children's pedestrian route selection
Authors: Barton B , Ulrich T
Published: March 2011

The aim of this research was to replicate and extend previous work by examining cognitive developmental predictors of children's selection of safe routes through pedestrian environments. Schwebel and Barton (2007) found child sex, age and temperamental inhibitory control to be significant predictors of selecting risky pedestrian routes. Although younger age significantly predicted selection of riskier routes, the question of what developmental (or age-related) characteristics are responsible for selecting riskier routes remained unanswered.

We first assessed children's cognitive speed and efficiency, and visual search skills in a series of laboratory tasks. Next, we measured children's route selections during a series of crossings using a wind-up toy on a scale indoor table-top model of a real street. 65 children ages 5–9 participated; 44% male.

Exploratory Pearson correlations indicated boys, younger children, those with less inhibitory control, and less sophisticated cognitive skills chose riskier routes. Multiple regression analyses showed sex and age, but not inhibitory control, predicted route selection, partially replicating previous research (Barton & Schwebel, 2007) and accounting for 37% of the variance in route selections. Next, a hierarchical multiple regression analysis tested the unique contribution of cognitive skills beyond age and sex as predictors of pedestrian route selection. Cognitive factors accounted for an additional 12% of variance in route selections, significantly improving the model.

Our results support the idea that cognitive developmental factors should be considered when assessing children's potential risk, rather than simply relying on age to determine when children are capable pedestrians.
Violence against children in Spain: a population-based epidemiological approach
Authors: Gascon E , Carrera P , Martos C , Rabanaque M J
Published: March 2011

Violence against children is recognised internationally as a serious public health, human rights, legal and social issue. There is evidence of societal factors involving the underlying conditions of society that influence violence, like economic inequalities. The aim of this study is to identify gender, age, nationality and socioeconomic intentional injury inequalities.

Data from the 2006 Spanish Health Survey were analysed. Information related with intentional injuries was retrieved (injury frequency and place where injury happened, socioeconomic class and children nationality), reported by parents or main care giver. Cross-tabulations and χ2tests were performed to investigate significant differences.

A total of 9122 children under 16 were surveyed. The observed intentional injury frequency was 2.8% of children population. Considering the place where aggression happened, 68.7% was at school, 16% in the street, 8% at sport and leisure area and only 2.7% at home. There was an age statistically difference in the violence events, with the highest frequency, 4%, in age group 6–10 years. As social class decreases the frequency of having an aggression increases, social class I/II 2.13%, social class V 3.97%, but this social class gradient was not statistically significant.

Data from the Spanish National Health Survey provide an important population-based information about intentional injuries in children, considering the paucity of data on childhood violence. Although any statistically significant socioeconomic inequality has been found, that is similar with results found in previous studies, where there is no effect consistency at all when analyzing morbidity, specially less severity morbidity.
Predicting safety performance associated with highway design decisions: a case study of Dhaka – Chittagong highway
Authors: Huq A S
Published: March 2011

Roads, highways and streets are fundamental in transportation system of Bangladesh. In Bangladesh the road safety situation is very severe with approximately 169 fatalities per 10 000 motor vehicles which is highest in Asia. According to the police reported official statistics, there are at least 3764 fatalities and 3284 injuries in 4426 reported accidents in 2008. The study has been intended to identify the causes behind the geometric problem of the selected segments of Dhaka-Chittagong highway. This research work comprises two segments on Dhaka-Chittagong highway, that is, Segment A (46+015.570 km post to 56+067.876km post/Daudkandi to Comilla) and Segment B (31+659.050 km post to 42+022.390 km post/Kachpur to Daudkandi). Each segment includes 10 km length of the corridor. Analysis period covered in this research work is from 1998 to 2007 for Segment A and 1998 to 2003 for Segment B. In this study, attempt has been made to evaluate the performance of four modules (PRM, CPM, DCM and TAM) on the selected highway segments using 2006 version of Interactive Highway Safety Design Module (IHSDM). The research work investigates the causes of accidents, identities the factors involved in road accident causation geometric elements in particular, existing black spots and evaluation of safety measures. In Segment A, 84.2 crashes per year are predicted with 93% fatal and injury crashes and 7% property damage only crashes. On the other hand 73.5 crashes per year are predicted for Segment B with 96% fatal and injury crashes and 4% property damage only crashes.
Organisational cases on behavioural safety management in India
Authors: Kaila H L
Published: March 2011

This article is a part of an on-going national action research survey of behavioural safety in India including 1765 executives and 893 workers in 63 organisations based on an in-depth group interviews and a structured questionnaire using open-ended questions. This paper includes a number of original case studies and field observations selected during behavioural safety training interventions in a period of 12 years between 1997 and 2009 across Indian multi-national organisations (such as petroleum, steel, cement, power, chemical etc) which shall be useful in application of the concept and process of behavioural safety for human resource/safety professionals and everyone who is concerned about correcting at-risk behaviours for reduction of accidents and promoting safe behaviours for developing injury-free culture in their organisations.
Injury surveillance system in Vietnam
Authors: Ngoc L T T , Nguyen T L H
Published: March 2011

Background

Injury surveillance system was set up in 2005 in Vietnam.

Objectives

To assess injury burden in Vietnam.

Design and Subjects

Periodic injury reports of 63 provinces/cities, road traffic injury (RTI) reports of 100 central and provincial hospitals, injury report of different ministries.

Results

In comparison to 6 months of 2008, in 6 months of 2009 injury cases increased 26.112 cases, death cases reduced by 0.3%. The 20–60 group had the highest proportions of injury morbidity and mortality (62.9% and 70.8%). Injury morbidity and mortality were higher among male than female. Road traffic accident was the leading cause of injury morbidity (39%), followed by occupational accident (15.3%), fall (11.6%) and violence (7.7%). In comparison with 6 months of 2008, road traffic injury morbidity and mortality decreased by 2.1% and 0.9%, respectively. RTI accounted for 33.5% of hospitalised injury cases. Brain injury among RTI accounted for 24.3% and was mainly among male (74.3%), those over 60 aged (27.2%) and under 4 aged (26.8%). 19.2% of brain injury cases did not wear helmets. Drinking-driving among RTI accounted for 8.8%. RTI involved motorcycle accounted for 66.2%. Injury data were different between different ministries. In the 6 first months of 2009, health sector reported 68.510 hospitalised RTI cases while the Ministry of Transportation reported only 5.127 RTI cases.

Conclusions

Injury is a major health problem in Vietnam. Injury surveillance system provides information data for decision making, planning and interventions. However, injury data from different sectors should be united and integrated.