Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 October 2005
291 Mr. J. O’Keeffe 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 nine years since 1996; the breakdown of the figures in terms of age profile; the county origins of the persons injured and the types of injuries sustained. [30617/05]
View answerThe information requested by the Deputy is set out in the following tables. 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 2004 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. Nearly 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. More than 40% of all principal diagnoses are burn injuries.
|
Year |
Area of Residence |
||
|
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 |
|
2004 |
12 |
11 |
23 |
|
Total Cases 1996-2004 |
71 |
66 |
137 |
|
All Hospitalisations due to Accidents involving Fireworks 1996-2004 by Age Group & Gender. |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Age Group |
Males |
Females |
Total |
|
0-9 Years |
21 |
3 |
24 |
|
10-19 Years |
74 |
10 |
84 |
|
20-29 Years |
11 |
3 |
14 |
|
30+ Years |
13 |
2 |
15 |
|
All Ages |
119 |
18 |
137 |
|
Types of Injuries from Fireworks, 1996 to 2004 |
|
|---|---|
|
Injury |
Number |
|
Burns of Face / Neck / Head |
23 |
|
Burns of Wrist / Hand |
21 |
|
Burns of Eye & Adnexa |
8 |
|
All Other Burns |
8 |
|
Open Wound of Upper Limb |
24 |
|
Open Wound of Head, Neck & Trunk |
11 |
|
Fractures |
8 |
|
Contusion with Intact Skin Surface |
13 |
|
Other Injuries |
21 |
|
Total |
137 |
Source: Hospital inpatient enquiry, HIPE, 1996-2004
Notes: Data refer to patients with a diagnosis of ICD-9-CM E923.0 — accidents caused by fireworks). Types of injuries refer to the principal diagnosis only.
