|
Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
|
Community-based assessment of unintentional injuries: a pilot study in rural Vietnam
Hoang Minh Hang
Department of Biostatistics, Hanoi Medical University, Hanoi, Vietnam, hmhang70{at}hotmail.com
Robert Ekman
Division of Social Medicine, Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
Ton That Bach
Department of Surgery, Hanoi Medical University, Hanoi, Vietnam
Peter Byass
UmeÅ International School of Public Health, UmeÅ University, UmeÅ, Sweden
Leif Svanström
Division of Social Medicine, Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
Aims: Although unintentional injuries are recognised as a major public health problem globally, little is known about their patterns and rates at the community level in most low-income countries. Rapid social development, leading to increased traffic and industrialization, may be changing patterns of injury. Injuries within the home environment have not so far been recognized to the same extent as traffic and work-related injuries in Vietnam, largely because they have not been effectively counted. This study took place in northern Vietnam, in the context of a longitudinal community surveillance site called FilaBavi, as a pilot project aiming to determine the community incidence of unintentional injury and to explore appropriate methods for community-based injury surveillance. Methods: An initial study population of 23,807 was identified and asked about their experience of injury in the preceding three months. Results: Overall 450 new injuries were detected over 5,952 person-years, a rate of 76 per 1,000 person-years. Males were injured at 1.6 times the rate of females, and home and road traffic accidents were most common. Most injuries occurred during unpaid household tasks. Cutting and crushing injuries occurred most frequently. Of 221 deaths from all causes in the FilaBavi population during 1999 among 43,444 person-years, 25 were attributed to unintentional injuries and two to suicide. Unintentional injury was the third leading cause of death in this community, with a case-fatality rate of 0.8%. Discussion: The findings suggest that greater attention needs to be directed toward the prevention of injuries occurring in the home in rural Vietnam. On the basis of this pilot study, a one-year study using the same approach is under way to characterize the patterns of unintentional injury in more detail, including any seasonal variation.
Key Words: community-based • surveillance • unintentional injury • Vietnam.
References
- World Health Organization, 1999. Injury: a leading cause of the Global burden of disease. WHO/HSC/PVI/ 99.11.
- The World Bank. World development report 1993. Investing in health. New York: Oxford University Press; 1993: 26-7, 213-25.
- Hinman AR, Parker RL, Xue-fi G, et al. editors. Health services in Shanghai County . Am J Public Health 1982; 72 (Suppl.): 1-95.[Medline]
[Order article via Infotrieve]
- Gedlu E. Accidental injuries among children in NorthWest Ethiopia. East Afr J Med 1994; 71: 807-.
- Ezenwa AO Trends and characteristics of road traffic accidents in Nigeria . J R Soc Health 1986; 106: 27-9.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline]
[Order article via Infotrieve]
- Phuong Ngoc Pham. Road traffic mortality and morbidity in Vietnam. MPH Thesis, Emory University, Rollins School of Public Health, Department of International Health, Atlanta, USA, July 1997.
- Long NH, Do TT, Van PH, Anh TT, Chuc NTK FilaBavi DSS, Vietnam. In: Population and health in developing countries, Volume 1: Population, health and survival at INDEPTH Sites. Ottawa: IDRC, 2002: 305 - 10.
- Chu Van Tuong. The pattern of childhood injuries in Phu Xuyen district, Hatay province, Northern Vietnam. Hanoi: Ministry of Health, 1993 (in Vietnamese).
- Nomesco Classification of external causes of injuries, 3rd revised ed. Nordic Medico-Statistica Committee , 1997.
- Svanström L. Community intervention in accident and injury prevention in Indonesia. Sundbyberg : Dept of Social Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, 1990.
- Ahlblom A. Biostatistics for epidemiologists. London: Lewis Publishers, 1993.
- Huong DL, Minh HV, Byass P. Applying verbal autopsy to determine cause of death in rural Vietnam . Scand J Public Health 2003; 31(Suppl. 62): 19 - 25.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
- Rahman F., Andersson R., Svanström L. Health impact of injuries: a population-based epidemiological investigation in a local community of Bangladesh . J Safety Res 1998; 29: 213 - 22.[CrossRef][Web of Science]
- Gordon JE, Gulati PV, Wyon JB Traumatic accidents in rural tropical regions: an epidemiological field study in Punjab, India . Am J Med Sci 1962; 243: 382 - 402.[Web of Science][Medline]
[Order article via Infotrieve]
- Mock CN, Abantanga F., Cummings P., Koepsell TD Incidence and outcome of injury in Ghana: a community-based survey . Bull World Health Organ 1999; 77: 955-64.[Web of Science][Medline]
[Order article via Infotrieve]
- Bangdiwala SI, Anzola-Perez E., Romer CC, et al. The incidence of injuries in young people, I: Methodology and results of a collaborative study in Brazil, Chile, Cuba and Venezuela . Int J Epidemiol 1990; 19: 115 - 24.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
- Gill PS, Mathus GB, Varma BO Epidemiological study of accidents amongst civil population resident in Pune Cantonement . Indian J Prev Soc Med 1980; 11: 39-43.
- Schelp L., Svanström L. One-year incidence of home accidents in a rural Swedish municipality . Scand J Soc Med 1986; 14: 75-82.[Web of Science][Medline]
[Order article via Infotrieve]
- Chuan LH, Tuong PD, Hoan LT, et al. Study on injury epidemiology in Red River delta of North Vietnam. Report from Health Strategy and Policy Institute and Hanoi Medical University, Hanoi, 2002.
- Odero WO, Kibosia JC Incidence and characteristic of injuries in Eldoret, Kenya . East Afr Med J 1995; 72: 706 - 10.[Web of Science][Medline]
[Order article via Infotrieve]
- Mock C., Acheampong F., Adjei S., Koepsell T. The effect of recall on estimation of incidence rates for injury in Ghana . Int J Epidemiol 1999; 28: 750 - 5.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
- Harel Y., Overpeck MD, Jones DH, et al. The effects of recall on estimating annual nonfatal injury rates for children and adolescents . Am J Public Health 1994; 84: 599 - 605.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, Vol. 31, No. 6 suppl,
38-44 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/140349480303100607
 CiteULike  Complore  Connotea  Del.icio.us  Digg  Reddit  Technorati  Twitter What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
|
|
 
Nguyen Thi Kim Chuc and V. K. Diwan
FilaBavi, a demographic surveillance site, an epidemiological field laboratory in Vietnam
Scand J Public Health,
December 1, 2003;
31(6_suppl):
3 - 7.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nguyen Thi Kim Chuc and V. K. Diwan
FilaBavi, a demographic surveillance site, an epidemiological field laboratory in Vietnam
Scand J Public Health,
January 1, 2003;
31(62_suppl):
3 - 7.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
