CHIRPP database, summary data for 1998, all ages
LIMITATIONS
This report is based on information from the database of the Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program (CHIRPP). It is important to note that the injuries described do not represent all injuries in Canada, but only those seen at the emergency departments of the 15 hospitals in the CHIRPP network. Since the majority of CHIRPP data comes from the pediatric hospitals, which are in major cities, injuries suffered by the following people are under-represented in the CHIRPP database: older teenagers and adults, who are seen at general hospitals; native people; and people who live in rural areas. Fatal injuries are also under-represented in the CHIRPP database because the emergency department data do not capture people who died before they could be taken to hospital or those who died after being admitted.
SUMMARY (962 records)
Overall, 59.6% of the inline skating injuries were experienced by males and 10-14 year olds sustained the majority of injuries both overall (56.8%) and within the age stratum (2.0%). Almost half (46.1%) of the injuries occurred between 4:00 pm and 7:59 pm. Over one-third (36.1%) of the injuries took place on the weekend. Over half (52.4%) of the incidents happened in transport areas of which 39.3% were paved roads and 22% were sidewalks. Half (50.5%) of the injuries were the result of a loss of control (leading to a fall) with no specific cause. Fractures represented 47.6% of all injuries and of these 68% were of the forearm and wrist (45.2% and 22.8%, respectively). The proportion of forearm and wrist fractures relative to all other injuries for the inline skating group was 41.1% while the same proportion for the overall CHIRPP database was 7.1% for the same period (1998). In the cases where the status of safety equipment was known, helmets were used in 49.5% of the cases and sport padding in 34.8%. At the Emergency Department, 47.9% of the patients were treated with medical follow-up required while 7.8% were admitted to hospital.
SPECIFICATIONS OF THE SEARCH
In February 2000, a search of the CHIRPP database for the year 1998 (111,748 records) was conducted for all ages. Records were selected if:
i) they contained the factor code for inline skating (code 1163) or
ii) if the injury event description contained any of the following strings "IN-LINE SKAT", "IN LINE SKAT", "INLINE SKAT", "ROLLERBLAD", "ROLLER BLAD", "ROLLER HOCK", "PATIN A ROU", "PATIN ALIGN", "PATINS A ROU", "PATINS ALIGN".
Selected records were then scanned and eliminated if the injury was not directly related to inline skating. The total number of records captured was 962.
MISSING (UNKNOWN) VALUES
In the following sections, at the bottom of each table or in the description, the number of missing values is indicated (if necessary). Missing values are those numbers for which the value of the variable in question is unknown (i.e. the information was not provided on the CHIRPP reporting form). In these cases the percentages are calculated on the total after the missing values are removed.
AGE AND SEX DISTRIBUTION OF THE INJURED PATIENTS
Age (Years) |
Frequency |
Percent of all injuries |
Number |
Percent male |
Percent |
2-4 | 14 |
1.5 |
0.7 |
42.9 |
57.1 |
5-9 | 227 |
23.6 |
9.7 |
51.1 |
58.2 |
10-14 | 546 |
56.8 |
20.1 |
61.4 |
61.4 |
15-19 | 108 |
11.2 |
9.8 |
67.6 |
63.2 |
>=20 | 67 |
7.0 |
3.6 |
64.2 |
59.9 |
Total | 962 |
100 |
8.6 |
59.6 |
59.5 |
1 The number of injuries per 1,000 CHIRPP injuries of all types within the age group indicated. Because CHIRPP collects information from ten children's hospitals and only five general hospitals, there is a high number of young children in the database. Using the number per 1,000 within an age group (instead of overall percent by age group) adjusts for different age group distributions. 2 The percentage of males in the CHIRPP database for all injuries for patients in the given age stratum in 1998. |
OVERALL PATTERN OF OCCURRENCE
Year-to-year pattern
Year |
Frequency |
Number/ |
1994 |
756 |
6.1 |
1995 |
893 |
7.4 |
1996 |
1,096 |
9.2 |
1997 |
973 |
8.3 |
1998 |
962 |
8.6 |
Total |
4,680 |
7.9 |
1 Number of inline skating injuries per 1,000 CHIRPP injuries of all types for the given year. |
Time at which the injury occurred
Time of day |
Frequency |
Percent of Injuries |
Midnight to < 8:00 am | 12 |
1.4 |
8:00 am to < Noon | 70 |
8.3 |
Noon to < 4:00 pm | 193 |
22.9 |
4:00 pm to < 8:00 pm | 388 |
46.1 |
8:00 pm to < Midnight | 178 |
21.2 |
Total | 841 |
100 |
# of missing values = 121 |
Day during which the injury occurred
Over a third (36.1%) of the injuries were sustained on Saturday and Sunday. The remainder were distributed fairly evenly over the other five days of the week.
Season during which the injury occurred
Season |
Frequency |
Percent of Injuries |
Spring (March-May) | 362 |
37.6 |
Summer (June-August) | 357 |
37.1 |
Fall (September-November) | 191 |
19.9 |
Winter (December-February) | 52 |
5.4 |
Total | 962 |
100 |
CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE INJURY
Where the injury occurred
Location/Area |
Frequency |
Percent of Injuries |
Transport areas paved road |
504 198 |
52.4 |
Own home/other home garden/yard |
134 58 |
13.9 |
Sports and recreation areas rink |
79 38 |
8.2 |
Public park playground |
75 22 |
7.8 |
School gym |
43 8 |
4.5 |
Other | 15 |
1.6 |
Unspecified | 112 |
11.6 |
Total | 962 |
100 |
Circumstances surrounding the injury1
Circumstances |
Frequency |
Percent of Injuries |
Lost control or balance and fell with no specific cause direction unknown |
486 438 |
50.5 |
Playing roller hockey (organized and unorganized) fell |
75 51 |
7.8 |
Insufficient toe clearance (i.e. tripped while skating, no obstacles) | 56 |
5.8 |
Skating on a hill or incline/excessive speed | 52 |
5.4 |
Stunts or difficult manoeuvre (incl. backward skating) | 52 |
5.4 |
Roadway or floor obstacle (grates, speed bumps, pebbles) | 46 |
4.8 |
Fell because of surface conditions (rocky, slippery, rough or a change in surface (e.g. pavement to grass)) | 43 |
4.5 |
Moving over stairs, steps or changes in level | 23 |
2.4 |
Collision with a stationary object (wall, parked car) | 22 |
2.3 |
Loss of control while cornering or braking | 20 |
2.1 |
Incidents with motor vehicles collision |
16 14 |
1.7 |
Incidents with other inline skaters (non-roller hockey) collision |
12 11 |
1.2 |
Incident with a pedestrian (incl. animals) avoiding a collision |
10 6 |
1.0 |
Walking dog | 6 |
0.6 |
Malfunction of the inline skate (loose wheel, brake) | 5 |
0.5 |
Novice | 4 |
0.4 |
Clothing or item caught in the inline skate | 3 |
0.3 |
Collisions with cyclists | 2 |
0.2 |
Other circumstances | 29 |
3.0 |
Total | 962 |
100 |
1Each patient was assigned to a single category that best describes the circumstances and percentages were based on the 962 persons injured. Category assignment was based on the level of detail available in the description of the injury. |
NATURE OF INJURY/BODY PART1
Nature of injury/Body part |
Frequency |
Percent of Injuries |
Fracture forearm |
456 206 |
47.6 |
Superficial wrist |
187 29 |
19.6 |
Strain/sprain wrist |
151 58 |
15.8
|
Open wound face |
74
36 |
7.7 |
Minor head injury | 32 |
3.3 |
Dislocation upper extremity |
13 12 |
1.4 |
Dental | 11 |
1.1 |
Nerve and muscle/tendon injury | 9 |
1.0 |
Concussion | 6 |
0.6 |
Intracranial | 3 |
0.3 |
Internal injury | 2 |
0.2 |
Crushing injury | 1 |
0.1 |
Other injuries | 5 |
0.5 |
No injury detected | 7 |
0.7 |
Total | 957 |
100 |
# missing values=5 1 up to three injuries and body parts can be entered per record; only the most severe injury is indicated in the above table; 90.2 % of the injured sustained only one injury; 7.1 % experienced two injuries and 2.2 % suffered three injuries. |
FOREARM AND WRIST FRACTURES - Comparison to CHIRPP database (1998)
Forearm and wrist fractures represented 66.8% (44.3% and 22.5%, respectively) of all fractures sustained during inline skating. For the overall CHIRPP database for 1998, forearm and wrist fractures represented 32.2% (22.1% and 10.1%, respectively) of all fractures sustained. The proportion of forearm and wrist fractures relative to all other injuries for the inline skating group was 41.1% while the same proportion for the overall 1998 CHIRPP data was 7.1%.
SAFETY DEVICE USE
Safety Device1 | Safety device status known2 |
||
Safety device |
No safety |
Percent use |
|
Helmet | 235 |
240 |
49.5 |
Sport padding | 128 |
240 |
34.8 |
1 In 97 cases the patient was wearing both a helmet and sport padding (i.e. 138 with helmet only and 31 with sport padding only); 1 patient was wearing a safety device classified as 'other'. 2 In 455 cases the status of the safety device was unreported. |
TREATMENT PROVIDED IN THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT
Disposition |
Frequency |
Percent of Injuries |
Left without being seen | 7 |
0.7 |
Advice only | 119 |
12.4 |
Treated, follow-up if necessary | 279 |
29 |
Treated, medical follow-up required | 461 |
47.9 |
Short stay, observation in emergency | 21 |
2.2 |
Admitted to hospital 1 | 75 |
7.8 |
Fatal injury 2 | 0 |
0 |
Total | 962 |
100 |
1 The percentage of admitted cases for all injuries amongst patients 1 year and older in the entire CHIRPP database for 1998 was 6.9% 2 Fatalities counted by CHIRPP include only those patients who were dead on arrival at the emergency department or who died in the emergency department. They do not include people who died before they could be taken to hospital or those who died after hospital admission. |
SUMMARY OF PERSONS ADMITTED TO HOSPITAL
Age and sex distribution of injured (admitted cases)
Age |
Frequency |
Percent of |
Percent of |
Percent |
Percent |
5-9 | 17 |
22.7 |
7.5 |
41.2 |
59.7 |
10-14 | 39 |
52 |
7.1 |
71.8 |
65.9 |
15-19 | 7 |
9.3 |
6.5 |
85.7 |
64.0 |
>=20 | 12 |
16 |
17.9 |
41.7 |
57.9 |
Total | 75 |
100 |
7.9 |
61.3 |
60.4 |
1 The percentage of males amongst admitted patients in the entire CHIRPP database for the given age stratum. |
Circumstances of the injury (admitted cases)
Where the injury occurred
Location/Area |
Frequency |
Percent of Injuries |
Transport areas paved road |
41 18 |
54.7 |
Unspecified | 21 |
28 |
Public park playground |
6 1 |
8 |
Own home/other home garden/yard |
3 1 |
4 |
Rink | 3 |
4 |
School playground | 1 |
1.3 |
Total | 75 |
100 |
Circumstances surrounding the injury (admitted cases) 1
Circumstances |
Frequency |
Percent of Injuries |
Lost control or balance and fell with no specific cause direction unknown |
51 47 |
68 |
Collision with a motor vehicle | 5 |
6.7 |
Fell while playing roller hockey (organized and unorganized) | 4 |
5.3 |
Skating on a hill or incline/excessive speed | 4 |
5.3 |
Fell because of surface conditions (rocky, slippery, rough or a change in surface (e.g. pavement to grass)) | 3 |
4 |
Insufficient toe clearance (i.e. tripped while skating, no obstacles) | 3 |
4 |
Stunts or difficult manoeuvre (incl. backward skating) | 2 |
2.7 |
Roadway or floor obstacle (grates, speed bumps, pebbles) | 1 |
1.3 |
Collision with a stationary object (wall, parked car) | 1 |
1.3 |
Avoiding a collision with a pedestrian | 1 |
1.3 |
Total | 75 |
100 |
1Each patient was assigned to a single category and percentages were based on the 75 persons injured. Category assignment was based on the level of detail available in the description of the injury. |
Body part and nature of injury 1 (admitted cases)
Nature of injury/Body part |
Frequency |
Percent of Injuries |
Fracture forearm |
56 36 |
74.7 |
Concussion | 4 |
5.3 |
Intracranial | 3 |
4.0 |
Minor head injury | 3 |
4.0 |
Dental | 2 |
2.7 |
Internal (abdominal) | 2 |
2.7 |
Other injuries | 5 |
6.7 |
Total | 75 |
100 |
1 up to three injuries and body parts can be entered per record; only the most severe injury is indicated in the above table; 84% of the injured sustained only one injury; 5.3% experienced two injuries and 10.7 % suffered three injuries. |
Safety device use (admitted cases)
Safety Device1 | Safety device status known2 |
||
Safety device |
No safety |
Percent use |
|
Helmet | 13 |
16 |
44.8 |
Sport padding | 3 |
16 |
15.8 |
1 In 3 cases the patient was wearing both a helmet and sport padding (i.e. 10 with helmet only and no cases with sport padding only). 2 In 46 cases the status of the safety device was unreported. |
SUGGESTED REFERENCE AND REPORTING INFORMATION
This report and data from it may be copied and circulated freely provided that the source is acknowledged. The following citation is recommended:
Injury data were obtained from the database of the Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program (CHIRPP), Public Health Agency of Canada.
If data from this report are included in any other document or publication, it should be noted, where appropriate, that the information comes from 15 hospitals (10 pediatric and 5 general) across Canada.
For additional information on the CHIRPP program, please contact the Child Injury Section, Public Health Agency of Canada by phone at (613) 941-9918, by FAX at (613) 941-9927 or visit our website at <www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/injury-bles/index-eng.php>.