2007 Georgia data summary. Fire-related injuries

2007 Georgia Data Summary:
Fire-related Injuries
Fire was the 5th leading cause of unintentional injury-related death in Georgia.

Fires and burns are the 5th leading cause of unintentional injury-related death (2004) and the 3rd leading cause of fatal home injury (2004) in the U.S.
Each year in Georgia, fire-related injuries caused approximately:
130 deaths 470 hospitalizations 2,400 emergency room visits
Fire was the 5th leading cause of unintentional injury-related death in Georgia from 1999 to 2004.

Deaths per 100,000 population

Figure 2. Age-adjusted Fire-related Death Rates
by Race: Georgia and U.S., 1979-2004
14

12

10
GA Black
8

6

4

GA White

US Black

2
US White
0
1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003
Year

Mortality
Trend
Although the number of deaths caused by fires has declined gradually over the past several decades, both nationwide and in Georgia, Georgia consistently had a higher rate of firerelated death compared to the national rate. (Figure 1).

Deaths per 100,000 population

Figure 1. Age-adjusted Fire-related Death Rates: Georgia and U.S., 1979-2004

6

5

US Georgia

4

3

2

1

0
1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003
Year

The fire-related death rate among blacks has been higher than that among whites in both the U.S. and Georgia over the past decades (Figure 2).

Deaths per 100,000 population

Age
Young children and the elderly were more likely to die from fires than persons in other age groups. People aged 75 years had the highest risk of dying from fires among all age groups, (6.4 per 100,000 population).
Among blacks, the pattern of higher rates among the young and the elderly was similar to the pattern observed for whites.
However, blacks had a higher risk of dying from fires than whites across all age groups (Figure 3).
Figure 3. Age-specific Fire-related Death Rates by Race: Georgia, 2000-2004
25
20
White Black
15
10
5
0 <1 1-4 5-14 15-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75-84 85+
Age group

Georgia Department of Human Resources, Division of Public Health 2 Peachtree Street, NW Atlanta, GA 30303 (404) 657-3103 gdphinfo@dhr.state.ga.us http://health.state.ga.us

Race and Sex

Seasonality

The risk of dying from fires was almost three Fire-related deaths occurred more frequently

times higher for blacks (3.4 per 100,000 during winter months (Figure 6). This seasonality

population) than for whites (1.2 per 100,000 is consistent with national reports of fire-related

population).

deaths.

Males were almost twice as likely to die from fires (2.2 per 100,000 population) as were females (1.2 per 100,000 population).
Black males had the highest fire-related death rate (4.6 per 100,000 population) among all race/sex groups (Figure 4). For other race/ethnic groups, too few deaths occurred to calculate race and sex-specific rates.
Figure 4. Age-adjusted Fire-related Deaths Rates by Race and Sex: Georgia, 2000-2004
5

Deaths

Figure 6. Fire-related Injury Deaths by Month, Georgia, 2000-2004
120 100
80 60 40 20
0 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
Month

Deaths per 100,000 population

4 3 2 1 0
White Male White Female Black Male Black Female

Income
Lower socio-economic status is known to increase the risk of fire-related death. People living in counties in Georgia with a median county income in the lowest quartile were more likely to die from fire than those living in counties with higher median county income.

Location and Causes
Almost 90% of all fire-related deaths occurred in buildings or structures, including private and public dwellings (Figure 5).

As median county income rises, the fire-related death rate decreases. (Figure 7).
Figure 7. Age-adjusted Fire-related Death Rates by Quartile of Median County Income: Georgia, 2000-2004

Figure 5. Location/Causes of Fatal Fires, Georgia, 2000-2004

Building or structure
89%

Not in building or structure
3%
Ignition of clothing
4%

Other 3%

Ignition of inflammable
material 1%

Deaths per 100,000 population

5

4.5

4

3.5

3

2.5

2

1.5

1

0.5

0

Lowest

Low

High

Highest

Quartile of Median County Income

Note: Counties were ranked by median county income and divided into quartiles of lowest, low, high and highest median income.

Georgia Department of Human Resources, Division of Public Health 2 Peachtree Street, NW Atlanta, GA 30303 (404) 657-3103 gdphinfo@dhr.state.ga.us http://health.state.ga.us

Morbidity

Hospitalizations per 100,000 population Hospitalizations per 100,000 population

Hospitalizations
From 2002 to 2004, 1,400 hospitalizations occurred as a result of fire-related injuries, resulting in approximately
$80 million hospital charges
10,300 days of hospital stay
Although fire-related injures accounted for only 1% of all injury hospitalizations, they had the highest average hospital charges and the longest average hospital stays among all injury-related hospitalizations.

Figure 9. Age-adjusted Fire-related Hospitalization Rates by Race and Sex: Georgia, 2002-2004

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

White NonHispanic Male

White NonHispanic Female

Black NonHispanic Male

Black NonHispanic Female

Hispanic Male

Hispanic Female

Age

The rate of hospitalization for fire-related injuries generally increases with age. The hospitalization rate for fire-related injuries was highest for adults aged 85 years (9.4 per 100,000, Figure 8).
Figure 8. Age-specific Fire-related Hospitalization Rates: Georgia, 2002-2004

Location and Causes
Thirty-six percent of all fire-related injuries that led to hospitalizations were caused by ignition of highly inflammable materials, and about 19% resulted from fires in private buildings (Figure 10).

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 <1 1-4 5-14 15-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75-84 85+
Age group
Sex, Race and Ethnicity
Hospitalization rates for fire-related injuries also differ between males and females. Males had a higher fire-related injury hospitalization rate (8.0 per 100,000 population) than did females (3.0 percent per 100,000 population).
Non-Hispanic blacks (6.7 per 100,000 population) were more likely than non-Hispanic whites (5.5 per 100,000 population) or Hispanics (2.3 per 100,000 population) to be hospitalized for firerelated injuries. Non-Hispanic black males had the highest hospitalization rate (9.3 per 100,000 population) among all race/ethnic/sex groups (Figure 9).

Figure 10. Location/Causes of Fire-related Hospitalizations, Georgia, 2002-2004

Other 6%

Unspecified 19%

Private building
19%

Ignition of inflammable
material 36%

Other building or

structure

2%

Not in

building or

Ignition of clothing

structure 11%

7%

Seasonality and Income
Hospitalizations for fire-related injuries showed a pattern of seasonality similar to that for deaths. More hospitalizations occurred during the winter and spring.
As was seen with fire-related death rates, hospitalization rates decreased with increased median county income level.

Georgia Department of Human Resources, Division of Public Health 2 Peachtree Street, NW Atlanta, GA 30303 (404) 657-3103 gdphinfo@dhr.state.ga.us http://health.state.ga.us

Emergency Department Visits
In 2002-2004, 7,309 emergency department visits occurred as a result of fire-related injuries, incurring emergency department charges of approximately $4.8 million.
Age
Children aged 1 to 4 years and persons aged 15 to 44 years had the highest risk of fire-related emergency department visits among all age groups.

Seasonality and Income
No seasonality was observed for firerelated emergency department visits overall.
However, among just those fires that occurred in buildings, emergency department visits were more common in the winter and spring, a pattern similar to that for deaths and hospitalizations.
The rate of fire-related injury emergency department visit decreased with increased median county income level.

Sex, Race and Ethnicity
The risk pattern for fire-related emergency department visits is shown in Figure 11. White males had the highest risk among all groups.

Emergency room visits per 100,000 population

Figure 11. Age-adjusted Fire-related Emergency Department Visit Rates by Race and Sex: Georgia, 2002-2004

50

40

30

20

10

0

White NonHispanic Male

White NonHispanic Female

Black NonHispanic Male

Black NonHispanic Female

Hispanic Male

Hispanic Female

Notes:
1. Fire-related injuries or deaths followed the definition published in Profile of Injuries in Georgia 2005 based on ICD-9-CM and 1CD-10 codes. They generally included injuries or deaths due to exposure to smoke, fire and flames, but excluded certain types of burns, such as scalds.
2. Data sources: Georgia Vital Death Records Georgia Hospital Discharge Data Georgia Emergency Department Visit Data
3. Date updated: August 2007
4. Publication number: DPH07/122HW
5. Visit
http://health.state.ga.us/epi/cdiee/injury.asp or http://oasis.state.ga.us/oasis/qryMorbMort.aspx or http://health.state.ga.us/programs/injuryprevention/core.asp#6
for more information about injuries in Georgia.

Location and Causes 21% of fire-related injuries that led to emergency department visits occurred in buildings and 19% were caused by ignition of inflammable materials or clothing However, for 35% of visits, causes were unknown or unspecified.
The People At Risk. The Power To Prevent.
Georgia Department of Human Resources, Division of Public Health 2 Peachtree Street, NW Atlanta, GA 30303 (404) 657-3103 gdphinfo@dhr.state.ga.us http://health.state.ga.us