Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 November 2004
173 Mr. Kehoe asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the number of persons who have been treated for injuries as a result of fireworks during the eight years since 1996; the breakdown of the figures in terms of age profile and the county origins of the persons injured; and the type of injuries sustained. [29253/04]
View answerThe information requested by the Deputy is set out in the tables below. Data are derived from the hospital inpatient enquiry, HIPE, system which records information on each episode of hospitalisation in publicly funded acute hospitals. The primary aim of HIPE is to provide measures of hospital activity for specific diagnostic and procedure categories. There is provision in HIPE for coding of underlying external causes of types of injuries, such as fireworks, but this information may not always be available to the coder and significant under-reporting is therefore possible. National statistics are not available on injuries from fireworks which do not result in hospitalisation.
Table 1 provides figures for each year from 1996 to 2003 and separately for Dublin residents and the rest of the country. Numbers of cases are too small to provide a breakdown by individual county of residence. Table 2 shows an age and gender breakdown for all years combined. Over 70% of injuries are to males under the age of 20. Table 3, again for all years combined, indicates the principal types of injuries sustained. Over 40% of all principal diagnoses are burn injuries.
|
Area of Residence |
|||
|
Year |
Dublin |
Rest of Ireland |
Total |
|
1996 |
16 |
11 |
27 |
|
1997 |
1 |
5 |
6 |
|
1998 |
4 |
6 |
10 |
|
1999 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
|
2000 |
4 |
7 |
11 |
|
2001 |
13 |
9 |
22 |
|
2002 |
6 |
3 |
9 |
|
2003 |
14 |
12 |
26 |
|
Total |
59 |
55 |
114 |
|
Age Group |
Male |
Female |
Total |
|
0 — 9 Years |
19 |
3 |
22 |
|
10 — 19 Years |
63 |
8 |
71 |
|
20 — 29 Years |
8 |
2 |
10 |
|
30+ Years |
9 |
2 |
11 |
|
All Ages |
99 |
15 |
114 |
|
Injury |
Number |
|
Burns of Face/Neck/Head |
19 |
|
Burns of Wrist/Hand |
18 |
|
Burns of Eye & Adnexa |
7 |
|
All Other Burns |
6 |
|
Open Wound of Upper Limb |
20 |
|
Open Wound of Head, Neck & Trunk |
8 |
|
Fractures |
8 |
|
Contusion with Intact Skin Surface |
9 |
|
Other Injuries |
19 |
|
Total |
114 |
Source: Hospital in-patient inquiry, HIPE, 1996-2003.
Notes: Data refer to patients with an external cause code of ICD-9-CM E923.0 — accidents caused by fireworks. Types of injuries refer to the principal diagnosis only.
