Injury statistics in Alberta among highest in Canada

New national statistics show that Albertans are among the most injured people in the country, in part due to high rates of trauma from sports, assaults and other factors.

The numbers from the Canadian Institute of Health Information show Alberta recorded a rate of 826 hospitalizations due to trauma per 100,000 people in the 2014-15 fiscal year ending March 31.

It’s a rate that has remained fairly consistent for at least five years, but is 35 per cent higher than the national average of 609 hospitalizations.

Only Saskatchewan has posted worse numbers among the provinces.

“I don’t think we can actually explain why that is from the data itself ... but it does seem to be consistently higher than some other provinces,” said Juliana Wu, manager of trauma registries for the health institute.

“The leading causes of hospitalizations are falls and vehicular collisions, so is there is any reason to think Alberta could be more prone to those? It’s hard to tell.”

Data tables complied by the institute also provide some insight into the various ways people have suffered trauma, including, for the first time, the role of sports-related brain injuries.

Using statistics from Alberta and Ontario, the institute found trips to the emergency room for sports related brain injuries jumped 46 per cent between 2011 and 2015.

Increases occurred across all age groups, but were highest among young children aged nine and under.

Suspected brain injuries suffered during hockey accounted for more than 2,900 of these emergency visits in Ontario and Alberta, close to double the numbers resulting from cycling, football and rugby, skiing and snowboarding, and being hit by a ball.

“Recently, there has been more discussion and media attention on concussions, so I think this is perhaps a sign that more parents are taking their children to get things checked out at the (emergency) if their children have been hit in some way,” Wu said. “It’s probably a precautionary measure.”

She said while emergency rooms have handled more cases of suspected brain trauma, the number of people hurt seriously enough to require a stay in hospital has remained stable in recent years.

Brad Lyon, manager of communications for Hockey Alberta, said he, too, believes the increased emergency visits is a positive trend since it is likely reflective of increased awareness around concussions in sport.

“Those topics and areas of area of concerns are things we have been focusing on with our players and parents,” he said. “And whereas maybe in the past somebody had a situation in a game where they decided not to go to an (emergency room), they are now going.”

Lyon said the hockey world in Canada has taken a variety of measures to reduce the likelihood of concussions and other serious injuries, including better training for coaches and trainers, instruction for kids on how to take and receive hits safely, and the introduction of a concussion protocol to make sure players are fit to play.

Hitting was removed from the peewee level and some associations are looking at doing the same for older age groups, Lyon said. A rule outlawing head contact was put in place in 2011.

Overall, the health institute’s numbers show Albertans accounted for 13.4 per cent of all hospitalizations due to injury in 2014-15, even though the province has about 11 per cent of the country’s population.

In part, this was due to carnage on Alberta roads, which accounted for 19 per cent of all hospitalizations to drivers and passengers in Canada.

The numbers also show 16 per cent of all hospitalizations due to accidental poisoning occurred in Alberta, which also claimed 20 per cent of all hospitalizations from assault.

Alberta recorded 126 hospitalizations from unintentional suffocation in 2014-14, which represented 45 per cent of all the cases in Canada and triple the number in Ontario.

Wu said she wasn’t sure what sort of incidents might be included in the category, but speculated it might involve cases of kids putting bags over their heads.

In the world of athletics and recreation, Alberta claimed nearly 20 per cent of all sport-related injuries serious enough to require a stay in hospital. Particularly high were injuries resulting from animal riding, ATV use, football and rugby, skateboarding, skiing and snowboarding.

Overall, falls of one kind or another continued to be the biggest source of serious injuries across all jurisdictions. In Alberta, 153,727 trips to the emergency department in 2014-15 were due to falls. That represents about 29 per cent of all injuries seen in the ED.

About 17,200 falls were serious enough to require a stay in hospital.