Population-based study of age, gender and causes of severe injury in Auckland, 2004

The burden of severe injury is an important health statistic. When accurate injury data are linked to census population data a reference dataset can be obtained. This information is vital to direct injury prevention and trauma system development.

Severe injury was defined as death or injury severity score more than 15. Resident population projections for the Auckland region (2004) were provided by New Zealand Statistics. Combining data from coronial autopsy and four hospital trauma databases provided age, sex, mechanism, mortality and hospitalization information for severely injured Aucklanders. Mechanism groupings were both blunt, penetrating or burn; and activity based (motor vehicle related (occupant and pedestrian), falls, hanging, assault, burns, sports, playing, aircraft, boating and work related).

Four hundred and forty-eight Auckland residents had severe injuries of which 192 died. The mortality and severe injury rates (includes mortality) were 14.4/100,000 and 33.6/100,000, respectively. Groups that were overrepresented in the population were male sex, those aged 15-29, those aged >75. Injury rate was lowest in those aged 0-14 years. Injury causes were motor vehicle related (50%), falls (19%), hangings (15%), assault (11%) and other: burns, work related, sports, playing, aircraft and boating related (5%) and 3.8% of cases were from penetrating mechanism. Hangings, road traffic crashes, assaults and falls had at-scene mortality rates of 100, 26, 25 and 6% and inpatient mortality rates of 0, 11, 4 and 17%, respectively (P < 0.05).

Auckland has a severe injury rate that is lower than other similar studies. Contributing factors include: low interpersonal violence rates, the predominantly urban population, the data source and the inclusion of the paediatric age group.