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Pretibial injury in patients aged 50 years and over
Raechel Laing1, Swee Tan, Joanna McDouall
1Clothing and Textile Sciences, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. raechel.laing@otago.ac.nz
Aims:
To establish the rate of, and identify circumstances surrounding, pretibial injury in patients aged 50 years and over.
Methods:
The rate of pretibial injury was estimated from national hospital discharge data from the New Zealand Health Information Service (NZHIS) National Minimum Dataset (1986-1999), and estimates of New Zealand s resident population. Cases accepted by the Accident Rehabilitation and Compensation Insurance Corporation (ACC) (1999) were used to estimate a difference in the number of accepted cases (ie, those that were and were not treated in hospital), and the number of cases resulting in hospital admission. Events surrounding pretibial injuries were identified by surveying 75 patients treated at the Wellington Regional Plastic, Maxillofacial and Burns Unit at Hutt Hospital (January 1999 - November 2000).
Results:
Estimates of pretibial injury in New Zealand were: annual incidence between 420 and 30 500; standardised rate 0.4-0.7 per 1000 population per year (females 0.6-1.0, males 0.07-0.3); crude rate 33 per 1000 population. About 60% of patients remained hospitalised for 2-14 days. Most of the injured were females (85-90% of NZHIS, 74% of ACC), were aged 70-89 years (68% females/males of NZHIS), and of New Zealand European/Pakeha ethnic origin (90%). Over half of the injury events occurred in the home (eg, caused by household items and furniture).
Conclusions:
Pretibial injury is a potential problem for older women in New Zealand. As the result of an ageing population, the annual number of cases is expected to increase.