TORONTO, March 22, 2012 /CNW/ - Today marks the public launch of what may be the most detailed injury snapshot ever prepared for the province of Ontario and its 36 public health units. The Ontario Injury Data Report reveals, for example, that children aged 0-4 landed in emergency departments after a fall from playground equipment at a rate of 152 (per 100,000) in Toronto, compared with 424 (per 100,000) in Peterborough and 251 in Ontario as a whole, while the 2.1 rate (per 100,000) of homicides in Toronto compares to a 0.4 rate in Peterborough and 1.3 in Ontario as a whole.

Prepared by the Ontario Injury Prevention Resource Centre, housed at SMARTRISK, the report will help public health units across Ontario pinpoint the most pressing injury issues for each age group in their areas. It will also allow injury prevention practitioners to consider how their injury rates compare to Ontario as a whole.

"This is critical information as injury is the leading cause of death for Ontarians aged 1-44, taking the lives of more than 4,600 people each year and placing an economic burden of $6.8 billion on the provincial economy," said SMARTRISK President and CEO, Dr. Phil Groff. As part of their mandate to protect and promote the health of their local populations, health units are tasked with finding ways to promote injury prevention. This new data report will assist them in setting local prevention priorities.

Included in the Ontario Injury Data Report are emergency room visits (a total of 2.3-million+ injury-related visits to Ontario ERs between fiscal years 2007-2009); hospitalizations (120,000+ from fiscal years 2007-2009); and deaths from injury (more than 18,000 in total between 2001-2005); broken down by cause of injury, health unit and age group. Suicide was found to be the leading cause of injury death in Ontario, followed closely by falls. Regarding non-fatal injuries, however, falls were the leading cause both for people ending up in emergency rooms and for being admitted to hospital.

Find the full report at http://www.oninjuryresources.ca/home/

About the Ontario Injury Prevention Resource Centre
The OIPRC, housed at SMARTRISK, is a resource centre of Public Health Ontario in the Health Promotion, Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention Department.