Abstract
BackgroundThe northern regions of the Nordic countries have common challenges of sparsely populated areas, long distances, and an arctic climate. The aim of this study was to compare the cause and rate of fatal injuries in the northernmost area of the Nordic countries over a 5-year period.MethodsIn this retrospective cohort, we used the Cause of Death Registries to collate all deaths from 2007 to 2011 due to an external cause of death. The study area was the three northernmost counties in Norway, the four northernmost counties in Finland and Sweden, and the whole of Iceland.ResultsA total of 4308 deaths were included in the analysis. Low energy trauma comprised 24% of deaths and high energy trauma 76% of deaths. Northern Finland had the highest incidence of both high and low energy trauma deaths. Iceland had the lowest incidence of high and low energy trauma deaths. Iceland had the lowest prehospital share of deaths (74%) and the lowest incidence of injuries leading to death in a rural location. The incidence rates for high energy trauma death were 36.1/100000/year in Northern Finland, 15.6/100000/year in Iceland, 27.0/100000/year in Northern Norway, and 23.0/100000/year in Northern Sweden.ConclusionWe found unexpected differences in the epidemiology of trauma death between the countries. The differences suggest that a comparison of the trauma care systems and preventive strategies in the four countries is required.
Highlights
Inclusion and exclusion criteria We identified from the national Cause of Death Registries and recorded all individuals who died from external causes (ICD-10 codes V01-Y98) in the northern regions of the Scandinavian Peninsula, and Iceland (Fig. 1) for the 5-year period from 2007 through 2011 [12]
Low energy trauma deaths accounted for 1100 cases, whereas 3208 cases were high energy trauma deaths
Iceland had a significantly lower incidence of Low energy (LE) trauma compared to the other areas
Summary
Injuries are one of the top three leading causes of death for people aged 15 to 49 years, resulting in a significant impact on life years lost [1]. With sparse population and long distances, have higher death rates from injuries than urban [3,4,5,6]. Urban-rural differences has been attributed to longer response and transport distances, behavioural differences and differences in socio-economic status [4]. The northern regions of the Nordic countries have common challenges of sparsely populated areas, long distances, and an arctic climate. The aim of this study was to compare the cause and rate of fatal injuries in the northernmost area of the Nordic countries over a 5-year period
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