Heilbrigðisskýrslur - 04.12.1987, Page 90

9. ENSKUR TEXTI
9.1. English Summary
An Analysis of 7 562 Home Accidents in the Greater-Reykjavík Area,
1979.
The number of home accidents is very high in all developed countries.
Studies to find the agents causing these accidents were started in many
countries and are currently pursued, e.g. in U.S.A., Great Britain, Japan.
In 1975 the Nordic Committee of Senior Officials for Consumer Questions,
under the Nordic Council of Ministers decided to try a Nordic reporting
system for accidents in the home and in its vicinity, to investigate the
possibility of using hospital records and also interviews. All five Nordic
countries used a six months period, lst of April 1977 - 30th of September
as test period, some countries prolonged the test period, as it was found
to be a reliable source of information.
The year 1981 was declared "Year of Invalids" in Iceland and it was
decided therefore to investigate various types of accidents, such as
accidents at work, accidents at sea and accidents in homes, to determine
their causes, agents of accidents and means to prevent the accidents. It
was decided to use the data of the outpatients section of the Emergency
Department of the City Hospital in Reykjavik. This section serves the
whole Reykjavík area, with a population estimated at 119 594 in mid-year
1979 or about 54% of Iceland's population. Further, some patients came in
from outside the area in cases of difficult fractures etc., roughly 8% of
the total number of patients.
The Emergency department uses a very complete report form for each
case, and uses it's own electronic data equipment. Causes of accidents and
diagnoses are recorded, as well as treatment given or referals to in-
patients care.
In a special text part of the report form (journal) the agents causing
the accident as well as the way the accidents occurred were recorded. This
information was then coded and processed. The number of cases coming to the
hospital was very large. In all 35 767 persons reported (some patient
reentered because of a new accident and then recounted). Of those, 1 736
came in after traffic accidents and 8 405 because of accidents at home.
After deducting certain causes - such as inebriation, self-injuries,
injuries caused by other persons and unknown causes, total of 7 562 cases
remained for analysis. Of these 672 persons came in because of sudden
illness, but accidents accounted for 6 890 cases.
The bi-lingual tables show the agents and causes of accidents. The
most important cause was falls, both on stairs and on level ground. It is
therefore recommended that main staircases be straight stairs not circular
staircases, and with rails on both sides - also on walls to give support to
both hands, if needed. Further - as poisonings are a considerable number
(4.4%) it is recommended that in new houses there should be two lockable
cupboards, one for drugs and such and another for houshold chemicals. The
latter cause damage by poisoning and may also be highly corrosive.
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