Home and leisure injuries in mainland France based on the health care and insurance survey, 2012

Abstract

Introduction Home and leisure injuries (HLI) are defined as unintentional injuries excluding road traffic accidents and occupational injuries. HLI are a major public health issue. Each year in France, they lead to more than 21,000 deaths and several hundred thousand hospitalizations. HLI's data from the Health, Health Care and Insurance Survey (ESPS) were analyzed in a dual objective: –measuring the incidence rates of injured persons in mainland France in 2012; –identifying factors associated with HLI. Methods Data concerning the ESPS Survey was collected in a randomized representative sample of the general population in mainland France in 2012. Data was first collected by face to face or phone interviews, and secondly by self-administered questionnaires among beneficiaries of the healthcare insurance system and the members of their household. Statistical analyses were conducted on a sample of 16,410 respondents to the self-administered questionnaires, where a module on HLI was included. Results Incidence rates of injured persons in mainland France in 2012 were estimated: 4.8% of the respondents were victim of HLI in the past three months whatever the age. Age distribution shows that 20.9% of HLI's victims were younger than 15 and 20.7% were older than 65. HLI were mainly domestic injuries (50.7% of HLI's victims) and sport or leisure related injuries (26.5%). The main type of injury recorded was sprains and dislocations (30.5%), lower limbs were most often affected (38.8%) and about half of victims has needed hospital care (emergency or hospitalization) (48.9%). A large majority of HLI's victims (81.9%) reported a limitation in the 48 hours following injury. Several factors were associated with HLI among people aged 15 and older: to enjoy taking risks, to be young, to have an upper than secondary education level, and to have a poor health. Conclusions According to our results, incidence of HLI remained stable between 2004 and 2012. The factors associated with the occurrence of HLI are often similar to those established in the literature. Moreover, multivariate analyses also contributed to identify some associations seldom found in the literature on HLI. Generally, risk-taking would increase the likelihood of having an HLI, particularly a sport or leisure accident; to practice sport on a regular basis would be associated with an increased risk of sport and leisure accident. These results have to be confirmed and detailed to improve primary prevention.