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The epidemiology of injuries in Svalbard compared with Harstad
1Institute for Community Medicine, University of Tromsø, 9037 Tromsø, Norway. boergey@online.no
Study Objective:
To survey all injuries treated in Longyearbyen hospital, Svalbard and to describe the injury epidemiology for Svalbard (residents and visitors), comparing it with Harstad.
Setting:
The Norwegian arctic archipelago, Svalbard and the mainland city Harstad during three years from 8 March 1997.
Participants:
The person years of the study were 4211 for Svalbard residents and 69,014 for Harstad.
Measurements And Main Results:
The variables followed the Nordic system. Of 630 recorded injuries, 107 were snowmobile related. Crude injury rates (per 1000 person years) [corrected] for Svalbard residents were for men 100.9 and for women 76.3. Corresponding rates were not significantly higher for men in Harstad (115.4, p = 0.19) and for women (80.1, p = 0.56). Home injuries were more prevalent in Harstad (30.5%) compared to Svalbard residents (13.1%, p < 0.001) and visitors (8.9%, p < 0.001). Work and leisure related injuries were more prevalent for Svalbard visitors (38.8% and 48.7%) and residents (27.2% and 41.9%) compared to Harstad (13.2% and 34.8%) (both p < 0.001). 43.5% of Svalbard visitors sustained work related injuries at sea. These injuries had higher AIS (abbreviated injury scale) mean score (1.83) than visitors' work injuries occurring on land (1.41) (p < 0.05) and residents' work injuries (1.29) (p < 0.001). Harstad had lowest AIS score for work related injuries (1.24). The violence rate (per 1000 person years) was 0.9 for Svalbard residents, less than a third of the Harstad rate (p < 0.02). There was one Svalbard resident fatality (drowning).