© 1995 Oxford University Press
research-article |
International Comparisons of Injury Mortality in the Elderly: Issues and Differences between New Zealand and the United States
* Injury Prevention Research Unit, Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, University of Otago Dunedin, New Zealand
Injury Prevention Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health Baltimore, MD. USA
Reprint requests to: Jean Ann Langlois, Epidemiology, Demography, and Biometry Program, National Institute on Aging, Gateway Building 3C-309, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
Background. International comparisons of mortality rates for injury, as for other conditions, can suggest priorities for further research and intervention. However, variability in the assignment of underlying cause, especially among the elderly, may lead to difficulty in interpreting cross-national differences in death rates. Despite similarities between the two countries, the injury death rate for ages >65 in New Zealand is substantially higher than the United States rate. The objective of this study was to investigate possible reasons for this difference
Methods. We used data not previously reported for New Zealand to calculate the cause-specific injury death rates for ages >65, compared them with US rates, and examined other injury rates that could help explain the observed difference.
Results. The New Zealand death rate from falls for ages >65 was nearly three times the US rate (92 versus 32 per 100 000), causing the death rate for all injuries in this age group to be 34% higher in New Zealand (153 versus 114 per 100 000). However, hospitalization rates for both falls and hip fractures are similar for the two countries.
Conclusions. The substantially higher fall injury death rates for older New Zealanders are not fully explained by differences in the incidence of falls resulting in injury nor the case fatality rate for fall-related injury. US injury death rates based on underlying cause of death might be similar to New Zealand rates, and thus substantially higher, if subjected to comparable procedures for the completion and coding of death certificates. As in studies of other conditions, international comparisons of injury death rates based on underlying cause, especially in studies of the elderly, must consider variation between countries in death certification and coding practices.
Received 1 July 1994
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  E. Th. Petridou, S. K. Dikalioti, N. Dessypris, I. Skalkidis, F. Barbone, P. Fitzpatrick, A. Heloma, M. Segui-Gomez, and D. Sethi The Evolution of Unintentional Injury Mortality Among Elderly in Europe J Aging Health, March 1, 2008; 20(2): 159 - 182. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 S. Moniruzzaman and R. Andersson Relationship between economic development and risk of injuries in older adults and the elderly: A global analysis of unintentional injury mortality in an epidemiologic transition perspective Eur J Public Health, October 1, 2005; 15(5): 454 - 458. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 R Spicer, T Miller, J Langley, and S Stephenson Comparison of injury case fatality rates in the United States and New Zealand Inj. Prev., April 1, 2005; 11(2): 71 - 76. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
Y-S Ahn, J F Bena, and A J Bailer Comparison of unintentional fatal occupational injuries in the Republic of Korea and the United States Inj. Prev., August 1, 2004; 10(4): 199 - 205. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 M. Hijar, L. D Chu, and J. F Kraus Cross-national comparison of injury mortality: Los Angeles County, California and Mexico City, Mexico Int. J. Epidemiol., August 1, 2000; 29(4): 715 - 721. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
G. S Smith and J. D Langley Drowning surveillance: how well do E codes identify submersion fatalities Inj. Prev., June 1, 1998; 4(2): 135 - 139. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|