Dáil Éireann - Volume 592 - 17 November, 2004 - Written Answers.


	HOME Baile
	DEBATES Díospóireachtaí
	DÁIL DEBATES Díospóireachtaí Dála
	SEANAD DEBATES Díospóireachtaí Seanaid
	SEARCH Cuardach
	ABOUT THIS SITE Faoin Suíomh Seo
	LINKS Nascanna

Dáil Éireann - Volume 592 - 17 November, 2004

Written Answers. - Fireworks Injuries.

Mr. Kehoe Mr. Kehoe

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]

Ms Harney Ms Harney

Ms Harney: The 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.

1090

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 [1090] 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.

Table 1: Hospitalisations due to accidents involving fireworks — 1996 to 2003.
	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

Table 2: All hospitalisations due to accidents involving fireworks 1996 to 2003 by age group and gender.
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

Table 3: Types of injuries from fireworks 1996 to 2003.
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.

Question No. 174 answered with Question No. 118.

Dáil Éireann 592 Written Answers. Fireworks Injuries.

Questions

20041117