Secular trends in rates of unintentional injury deaths among adult Finns

This study assessed the current secular trends in unintentional injury deaths among persons 15 years of age or older in Finland. For this purpose, we obtained from the Finnish Official Cause-of-Death Statistics (OCDS) the data for persons aged 15 years or older whose deaths occurred in 1971-2003 due to an unintentional injury. Among Finnish men, the most drastic change occurred in road traffic crashes. The age-standardised death rate (per 100,000 person-years) of men's road traffic crashes was 47 in 1971 but only 11 in 2003. In contrast, the rate of fall-induced deaths among Finnish men gradually rose, from 18 in 1971 to 24 in 2003, by which time falls became the leading category of men's unintentional injury death. Also alcohol poisonings seemed to bypass road traffic crashes as the cause of men's injury death. Among Finnish women, the age-standardised rate of fall-induced deaths decreased till 1975, after which the curve was rather flat. The death rate (per 100,000 person-years) of women's falls was 30 in 1971 and 18 in 2003. During the entire period of 1971-2003, traffic caused fewer deaths in women than men, but the declining trend in women's death rates was also clear, from 17 in 1971 to 5 in 2003. Other unintentional causes accounted for few deaths in women during 1971-2003, although it was of interest that the rate of women's deaths due to alcohol poisoning rose from 1 in 1971 to 4 in 2003. In conclusion, during 1971-2003 falls replaced road traffic crashes as the leading cause of unintentional injury death in adult Finns. The rise in men's fall-induced deaths occurred even with a rate that cannot be explained merely by demographic changes, and therefore, systematic fall prevention measures are needed to control the development. The rising incidence of women's deaths due to alcohol poisoning needs close follow-up. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.