The Harstad injury prevention study : hospital-based injury recording and community-based intervention

Abstract

Accidental injury is the leading cause of death in Norway under the age of 50. A 19 % reduction of age standardized accident mortality was observed from 1956 to 1983. In spite of this, next to Finland, Norway has the highest accident mortality rate among the Nordic countries (1) . To reduce accidental injury it is important to gain knowledge about all injuries, not only the fatal ones. The aims of this study were to (i) use a hospital- based injury recording system for gaining local epidemiological information, (ii) analyse this information and select target groups for intervention and (iii) evaluate the outcome of a) traffic injury prevention, b) prevention of burns in small children and c) prevention of fall-fractures in the aged and d) prevention of downhill skiing injuries.