Injury death rates higher
A comparison of injury mortality across the Republic, the North, England, Scotland and Wales for the period 1996-2003 found the Republic ranked well ahead of Britain except when it came to death rates from homicide.
In this category, Scotland topped the table, followed by the North, where death rates from injury more than doubled in 1998 in the wake of the Omagh bomb.
However, for the seven-year period surveyed, the Republic had the highest death rates for both suicide and traffic accidents.
The findings of the survey, conducted by the Injury Observatory for Britain and Ireland, will be announced at a seminar on injury mortality in Dublin today.
The seminar is being hosted by Ireland and Northern Irelandâs Population Health Observatory, which is housed within the Institute of Public Health.
The observatory was a collaborating member in the study.
Steve Barron, research analyst at the observatory, said: âIn 2003 â the latest year of the study â the mortality rate for all deaths due to injury or external causes was 40% higher in the Republic of Ireland than in England, the country with the lowest rate.
âComparisons within the island show that during 2003, the Republic of Ireland had a significantly higher mortality rate than Northern Ireland for all injury deaths (11% higher), unintentional injury deaths (6% higher), suicide (21% higher) and accidental falls (165% higher).â
Mr Barron said injury deaths accounted for about 5% of all deaths per year and the victims were predominantly male. This was partly due to the risk-taking behaviour of males, he said.
Dr Kevin Balanda, associate director of the institute, said there were some âvery dramatic differences between the five countriesâ in terms of injury mortality.
Mr Barron said it was hoped co-ordination could take place at national level, involving all the different safety agencies, such as road and fire safety, to develop a national safety strategy.
Further information can be accessed at www.inispho.org
