Citation

Coggan C, Hooper R, Adams B. N. Zeal. Med. J. 2002; 115(1161): U167.

Affiliation

Injury Prevention Research Centre, University of Auckland. c.coggan@auckland.ac.nz

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, New Zealand Medical Association)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

12386674

Abstract

AIM: The study aimed to obtain baseline information on the incidence and nature of self-reported injuries in New Zealand. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted of approximately 400 randomly-selected households from each of 13 Territorial Local Authorities across New Zealand, giving a total sample size of 5282. Respondents were asked if anyone in their household had been treated by a medical doctor in the previous twelve months for any injuries and, if so, details of the injury event were recorded. RESULTS: Forty one per cent of households reported that someone in the household had sustained an injury. The most common types of injuries were falls (33%), sports-related injuries (28%) and injuries caused by lifting an object (16%). Only eight per cent of the injuries required overnight hospitalisation. CONCLUSION: The findings from this study indicate that the total burden of injury in New Zealand is much larger than estimated by routinely-collected injury hospitalisation data.