Injuriesas a Form of Poisoning - Essay Example

Injuries Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Injuries An injury can be defined as a form of poisoning, trauma or any other condition that occurs rapidly and mainly instigated by factors or events external to the victim (Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], 2006). Injuries occur with severity ranging from mild to severe that may result in death of the affected person. This essay shall examine injuries in general including the size of the issue, its various causes, the kind of individuals or groups affected, the injury trends in the past years, the problem’s burden to the society, and the various preventions methods applicable. Size of the Issue A substantial number of individuals have experienced injuries both in Australia and throughout the world. In Australia, it is estimated that in 2004-05, 18% of the Commonwealth population had had some form of injury in the past four weeks (ABS, 2006). In the same period, 28% of the reported injuries were caused by cuts while 21% were as a result of falls from heights less than a meter (ABS, 2006). In 2011-12, approximately 500 million Australians suffered some injuries requiring hospitalization (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare [AIHW], 2015). This was a rise in annual number of cases reported as in 2002-2003 there were only 327, 000 cases reported compared to the 454,000 reported between 2011 and 2012 (AIHW, 2015). The rate at which injuries resulted in hospitalization every year had also increased since 1999-00 to 2011-12 by an average of 1% (AIHW, 2015). Globally, more than five million peoples are killed due to injuries (World Health Organization [WHO], 2014). WHO (2014) also estimates that 9% of global mortality is accounted for by injuries. This number of deaths is 1.7 times that caused by a combination of tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and malaria (WHO, 2014). Moreover, about one in ten deaths occurring yearly worldwide are caused by injuries and violence (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2014). CDC (2014) also estimates that at least nine people succumb to injuries every minute. Some individuals surviving injuries have been temporarily or permanently disabled. Common Causes and Risk Factors Among the various causes of injuries include falls, poisoning, motor vehicle transport, unintentional cuts or pierces, overexertion or repetitive movements, natural factors, poisoning, machinery, fires, self-harm, interpersonal violence, drowning, water and rail transport (AIHW, 2015; WHO, 2014). The two most common risk factors predisposing Australians to injuries are excessive alcohol consumption, and the occupation or work individuals do (ABS, 2006). In an Australian National Health Survey (NHS) done in 2004-05, it was noted that adults who engage in risky alcohol drinking reported injuries (18%) more than those who did not take alcohol (11%) (ABS, 2006). Various injuries associated with risky alcohol drinking include cycling and vehicle accidents, recreational injuries, pedestrian involving incidents, violence, fires, and falls (ABS, 2006). Persons who get injured while under alcohol intoxication have exhibit greater injury severity and more chances of an adverse outcome (ABS, 2006). In the same survey, it was demonstrated that 3% of Australians who had been recently injured reported been under alcohol or drugs of abuse intoxication (ABS, 2006). According to Australian NHS, 25% of injured persons aged at least 15 years received their injuries while working for a fee (ABS, 2006). Among the individuals injured in their course of duty, 63% of them had open wounds received while working. Adults in the construction industry were more prone to injuries than other individuals working in other employment industries. NHS reported that of all employed adults, 13% working in the construction industries received injuries, 5% more than adults who sustained injuries while working in other industries (ABS, 2006). Moreover, employed tradespersons aged at least 18 years represent an occupation group that present with most injuries accounting for 15% of workers who had had recent past injuries (ABS, 2006). Among the injured tradespersons, those working in the construction industry received more injuries than those working in the retail trade industries and the manufacturing industries (ABS, 2006). Globally, according to a WHO survey the leading cause of deaths resulting from unintentional injury in high-income countries (HIC) is road traffic injury(RTI), followed by falls, poisoning, drowning and fires at a percentage of 34%, 22%, 9%, 5% and 3% respectively (Chandran, Hyder & Peek-Asa, 2010). In low and middle-income nations (LMIN), the leading causes are RTIs, falls, drowning, poisoning and fires occurring at a percentage of 33%, 10%, 10%, 9% and 8% respectively (Chandran, Hyder and Peek-Asa, 2010). Groups Affected Worldwide, injuries affect more males than females as demonstrated in a 2004 study by WHO that estimated that over 2.5 million deaths from unintentional injuries affected men compared to just over 1,4 million deaths that affected females (Chandran, Heyder & Peek-Asa, 2010). In the same study, all the various causes of injuries, except fires, resulted in more injuries in men than females. By 2004, 7%, 8%, 23%, 24%, 19%, 8%, 7% and 4% of males aged between 0-4, 5-14, 15-29, 30-44, 45-59, 60-69, 70-79 and over 80 years old respectively sustained unintentional injuries that led to death (Chandran, Heyder & Peek-Asa, 2010). By the same year, 12%, 11%, 18%, 16%, 15%, 9%, 9% and 10% of females aged 0-4, 5-14, 15-29, 30-44, 45-59, 60-69, 70-79 and over 80 years old respectively died from unintentional injuries (Chandran, Heyder & Peek-Asa, 2010). The gender-based statistics show that very young and elderly females experience higher injury-related deaths while almost half of deaths in males arising from injuries affect men aged between 15 and 44 years. The injury burden is more in LMIN than in developed nations for both genders and all age groups (Chandran, Heyder & Peek-Asa, 2010). Trends over Time In Australia, there was an average 1% yearly increase in age-standardized injury rates over an 11 year period up to 2010-11 beginning from1990-00 (AIHW: Pointer, 2013). Over the same period, there was a 2% increase in falls, 1% increase in intentional self-harm, and 0.5% rise in assault related injuries (AIHW: Pointer, 2013). Nevertheless, there rates of hospitalization arising from poisoning and drowning declined by 5% and 1% respectively over the 11 year period (AIHW: Pointer, 2013). Deaths resulting from injuries have been increasing over time worldwide. In 1990, injury-related deaths were 4.3 million compared to 4.8 million that occurred in 2013 (GBD 2013 Mortality and Causes of Death Collaborators [GBD MCDC], 2015). This represented a 10.7% increase in global deaths. However, there was a 21% decrease age-standardized rates over the same 23 years' time (GBD MCDC, 2015). Societal Burden In 2001, unintentional injuries composed 6% of all deaths reported that year and 66% of deaths resulting from injuries (Norton, Hyder, Bishai & Peden, 2006). It was also reported that over 113 million DALYs in the same year were accounted for by unintentional injury (Norton et al., 2006). At least 90% of DALY’s linked to injuries happened in LMINs and this value was responsible for approximately 8% of DALYs in those respective countries (Norton et al., 2006). HIC have their citizens succumbing to injuries at a higher rate than the globally reported rates. The DALY losses were higher in men than in women worldwide. In 2001, RTI comprised 34 % of the total burden of injuries in addition to causing the greatest losses in DALYs responsible for 28% of the burden (Norton et al., 2006). In terms of the economic burden of injuries in the world, RTIs give the best indicator due to lack of data regarding the other causative factors. It was reported “the annual burden of road crash costs is about US$518 billion" worldwide (Norton et al., 2006). In LMINs, the cost is estimated to be US$65 billion, an amount much more than the sum these nations get in development resistance (Norton et al., 2006). Collection of Data and Injury Prevention Information relating to injury cases and incidents is usually collected from medical or health care facilities for reported injury cases, and through medical coverage services where medical personnel interview individuals. The collected information can be depicted in a pyramid in terms of the fatality of the injuries and the relative numbers of the injuries identified or reported (WHO, 2012). The quality of available information or data and accessibility to health care services are elements that may vary, depending on the country, but significantly affect the shape of the pyramid. A typical injury pyramid has the top consisting of fatal injuries, followed by those injuries leading to hospitalization, emergency department visits, and primary care facilities visits with the bottom comprising injuries not treated within the system, not treated at all or those injuries not reported (WHO, 2012). Injury prevention can be primary, secondary or tertiary. Primary prevention targets prevention of the event leading to an injury. Secondary prevention targets the reduction of severity of an injury in case an event leading to an injury occurs. Tertiary prevention is aimed at individuals who have already been injured to prevent them from succumbing to their injuries, or to lessen any subsequent difficulties resulting from the injuries sustained (Pless & Hagel, 2005). Conclusion This essay suggests that injuries have a substantial burden to Australia as a nation and to the whole world too. The increasing worldwide mortality rates as a result of injuries is not in line with health promotion and measures including primary, secondary and tertiary prevention need to be implemented to lessen the burden and losses of DALYs as a result of injuries. References AIHW: Pointer, S. (2013). Trends in hospitalized injury, Australia: 1999-00 to 2010-11. Retrieved from http://www.aihw.gov.au/publication-detail/?id=60129544399 Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2006). Injury in Australia: A snapshot, 2004-05. Retrieved from http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4825.0.55.001/ Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2015). Injury. Retrieved from http://www.aihw.gov.au/injury/ Centers for Diasease Control and Prvention. (2014). Worldwide injuries and violence. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/injury/global/ Chandran, A., Hyder, A.A. & Peek-Asa, P. (2010). The global burden of unintentional injuries and an agenda for progress. Epidemiology Review, 32, 110-120. GBD 2013 Mortality and Causes of Death Collaborators. (2015). Global, regional, and national age-sex specific all-cause and cause-specific mortality for 240 causes of death, 1990-2013: A systematic analysis for the global burden of disease study 2013. Lancet, 385(9963), 117-171. Pless, I.B. & Hagel, B.E. (2005). Injury prevention: a glossary of terms. Journal of Epidemiology Community Health, 59, 182-185. World Health Organization. (2012). The injury pyramid. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/key_facts/VIP_key_fact_5.pdf World Health Organization. (2014). Injuries. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/topics/injuries/about/en/ Read More