Home injuries in a Swedish municipality - consequences and costs

To investigate home injuries and the related cost of illness in a defined c ommunity as a basis for a home injury prevention programme, all unintention al injuries treated at in- and outpatient facilities in Motala municipality (population 41 000), Sweden, were recorded during a period of 1 year. More detail was obtained about home injuries with the help of standardized and structured surveys via telephone interviews, hospital records and death cer tificates. In all, 1723 or 35% of all injuries occurred within home environ ments. The predominant age groups among both males and females were age gro ups 0-6 years and 70 years and over. Falls, falling objects and cutting or piercing objects accounted for three-quarters of the injury cases. Falls do minated markedly among the elderly. Injuries to the upper and lower extremi ties and head injuries were the most common injury types. The cost of medic al care dominated among females (64%), while company costs dominated among males (77%). Injuries to the extremities accounted for 74% of the costs. Mo re attention should be given to home injuries and their prevention. There i s a need to register local home injuries as a base-line for intervention an d for evaluating its effects. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. Al! rights res erved.