Injuries associated with... PERSONAL POWERED WATERCRAFT (PPW)

Entire CHIRPP database, as of June 1998, all ages

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SUMMARY (81 records)

Injuries associated with PPWs were sustained most frequently by patients 20 years of age or older (49.4%). Of all injuries related to PPWs, 59.3% were to males. Many patients (29.6%) lost control of their PPW and hit against it or got caught up in the handle or a cord attached to the PPW (while riding or after falling off of the PPW). The most common type of injury was bruising, abrasion or inflammation, 29.6%. The body part most commonly injured was the head or neck, 33.7%. Injuries that required advice only or minor treatment accounted for 44.4% of patients, while 25.9% of patients needed medical follow-up after leaving the emergency department and 28.4% were admitted to hospital. The percentage of PPW injuries requiring hospitalization is approximately four times higher than the average for all injuries in the CHIRPP database.

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SPECIFICATIONS OF THE SEARCH

In June 1998, a search of the entire CHIRPP database (777,901 records) was conducted. No age restriction was specified in the search. Records were selected if i) either the mechanism, breakdown or contributing factors were sea-doos or jet skis (code 2063) or ii) the text fields contained any of the following strings: "JET SKI", "JETSKI", "JET-SKI", "SEA DOO", "SEADOO", or "SEA-DOO". The total number of records identified was 81.

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OVERALL OCCURRENCE

	NUMBER	PERCENT OF INJURIES	NUMBER / 100,000*
1990	1	1.2	2.3
1991	4	4.9	5.3
1992	1	1.2	1.4
1993	3	3.7	3.0
1994	23	28.4	18.6
1995	18	22.2	14.7
1996	10	12.3	8.4
1997*	21	25.9	19.1
Total	81	100.0	10.3

^* These numbers are approximate. At the date of search, data input for 1997 was not yet complete.

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AGE AND SEX DISTRIBUTION OF INJURIES

	NUMBER	PERCENT OF INJURIES	% MALE*	NUMBER/ 100,000 **
2-4 years***	2	2.5	50.0	1.5
5-9 years***	4	4.9	100.0	2.4
10-14 years	16	19.8	43.8	8.3
15-19 years	19	23.5	42.1	24.5
20+ years	40	49.4	70.0	34.6
Total	81	100.0	59.3	10.4

^* Of all injuries in the entire CHIRPP database, 59.6% were sustained by males.
^** The number of injuries associated with PPWs per 100,000 CHIRPP injuries of all types within the age group indicated. Because CHIRPP collects information from ten children's hospitals and only six of the general hospitals, there is a high number of young children in the database. Using number per 100,000 within an age group (instead of overall percent by age group) adjusts for different age group distributions.
^*** Of the six patients less than 10 years of age, only one (aged 9 years) was the driver.

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TIME AT WHICH INJURY OCCURRED

	NUMBER	PERCENT OF INJURIES
8:00 a.m. to noon	5	6.2
Noon to 4 p.m.	27	33.3
4 p.m. to 8 p.m.	25	30.9
8 p.m. to midnight	4	4.9
Midnight to 8 a.m.	0	0.0
Unknown	20	24.7
Total	81	100.0

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DAY DURING WHICH INJURY OCCURRED

	NUMBER	PERCENT OF INJURIES
Sunday	22	27.2
Monday	9	11.1
Tuesday	11	13.6
Wednesday	5	6.2
Thursday	4	4.9
Friday	12	14.8
Saturday	18	22.2
Total	81	100.0

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MONTH DURING WHICH INJURY OCCURRED

	NUMBER	PERCENT OF INJURIES
March	2	2.5
May	2	2.5
June	17	21
July	28	34.6
August	24	29.6
September	7	8.6
October	1	1.2
Total	81	100.0

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WHERE THE INJURY OCCURRED

	NUMBER	PERCENT OF INJURIES
River, lake	68	84.0
Sea, ocean	2	2.5
Store	2	2.5
Garage, yard	2	2.5
Beach	1	1.2
Unspecified	6	7.4
Total	81	100.0

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WHAT HAPPENED WHEN INJURY OCCURRED

Note: The following is a list of frequently occurring circumstances and factors in injuries related to PPW's. Each patient was assigned to a single category and percentages were based on 81 persons injured. Category assignment was based on the level of detail available in the description of the injury.

	NUMBER	PERCENT OF INJURIES
Hit against or got caught in own PPW (while riding or after falling off)	24	29.6
Collided with other PPW or object	23	28.4
Fell off of PPW, not further specified	11	13.6
Injured while handling PPW or sprain while driving PPW	7	8.6
Fell off of PPW and PPW rode over patient	4	4.9
Fell off of PPW and hit something	3	3.7
Injured on/by stationary PPW	2	2.5
Hit by PPW as a bystander	2	2.5
In inner tube, hit dock while trying to avoid PPW	1	1.2
Passenger on PPW, hit by driver's head	1	1.2
Unspecified or unknown	3	3.7
Total	81	100.0

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NATURE OF INJURY AND BODY PART INJURED

Up to three injuries may be specified for each record. Fourteen patients (17.3%) sustained more than one injury; 10 patients (12.4%) sustained two injuries and 4 patients (4.9%) sustained three.

		NUMBER		PERCENT OF INJURIES
Bruise, abrasion, inflammation			29	29.3
	head, neck trunk upper leg, knee lower leg, ankle foot, toe hand forearm upper arm	9 7 3 3 3 2 1 1
Fracture			20	20.2
	upper leg, knee head, part of face lower leg spine upper arm forearm	10 5 2 1 1 1
Cut, laceration			18	18.2
	head foot, toe knee trunk elbow lower leg	10 3 2 1 1 1
Sprain, strain			10	10.1
	back lower leg, ankle upper arm, elbow knee	4 3 2 1
Minor head injury			5	5.1
Concussion			3	3.0
Injury to muscle			2	2.0
	abdomen thigh	1 1
Injury to internal organ in abdomen			2	2.0
Dental injury			2	2.0
Multiple injuries			2	2.0
Dislocation			1	1.0
	shoulder	1
Eye injury			1	1.0
Intracranial injury			1	1.0
Near drowning, immersion			1	1.0
No injury detected			1	1.0
Unspecified			1	1.0
Total			99	100.0

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TREATMENT PROVIDED IN THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT

	NUMBER	PERCENT OF INJURIES
Left without being seen	1	1.2
Advice only, or treatment with no need for follow-up	36	44.4
Treated, medical follow-up required	21	25.9
Admitted to hospital	23	28.4*
Fatal injury	0**	0.0
Total	81	100.0

^* The percentage of all CHIRPP injuries that resulted in hospital admission was 6.2%.
^** 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. Only 0.03% of all CHIRPP injuries were fatal.

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PROFILE OF PATIENTS ADMITTED TO HOSPITAL

Of the 23 patients admitted to hospital, 14 were males and 9 were females; 8 patients were aged 10-14 years, 6 were 20 years or older, 5 were aged 15-19 years, 3 were aged 5-9 years and one was 2-4 years old.

A total of 13 patients collided with another PPW or hit something, 4 patients hit against or got caught in their PPW, 2 patients fell off of their PPW, 2 patients were hit by a PPW as bystanders and the circumstances of injury were unknown for 2 patients.

Eleven patients sustained fractures (3 of the head and 8 of the upper leg), 2 patients sustained bruising (one of the neck and one of the trunk), 2 patients suffered cuts and lacerations (one of the trunk and one of the lower leg), 2 patients suffered an injury to an internal organ in the abdomen, 2 patients suffered multiple injuries, 1 patient sustained a minor head injury, 1 patient suffered a concussion, 1 patient sustained an intracranial injury and 1 patient nearly drowned.

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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 sixteen hospitals (ten pediatric and six 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 or by FAX at (613) 941-9927.