Part 2 of a series.
The National Safety Council each year publishes "Injury Facts," the best single source of data and statistics about injuries.Though the publication is filled with numbers, it can be interesting reading.
Sports injuries are common. Here are examples of the estimated number of injuries treated in hospital emergency departments: basketball, 631,186; bicycle riding, 577,621; bowling, 23,130; fishing, 77,643; football, 355,247; golf, 46,019; horseback riding, 64,692; mountain climbing, 2,994; snowmobiling, 8,393; soccer,169,734; track and field, 15,560; water skiing, 14,487.
There were six fatalities directly related to football during the 1999 football season. There have been 10 reported in 2000.
The U.S. Hang Gliding Association reported six deaths in 1999. The Hunter Education Association recorded 93 fatal and 926 nonfatal hunting injuries in 1999. The National Ski Areas Association reported 33 skier and six snowboarder deaths during the 1998-99 season.
Deaths associated with recreational boating numbered 815 in the United States in 1998, according to data from the U.S. Coast Guard.
There have been 67,523 deaths associated with floods in the United States since 1940, averaging 111 deaths per year. Texas and California had the largest number of deaths in 1998, with 41 and 17, respectively. Flood deaths outnumbered both lightning and tornado deaths in 1998.
Deaths due to lightning in the United States totaled 44 in 1998. June and August had the greatest number of deaths with 12. Florida ranked the highest in both lightning deaths with eight and injuries with 47. During the past 39 years, the average number of lightning deaths per year was 89.
There were a record 1,424 reported tornadoes in the United States in 1998, resulting in 1,869 injuries and 130 deaths.
There was an annual average of 371 deaths in the United States attributed to "excessive heat exposure" between 1979 and 1997. Arizona and Missouri had the highest rate of heat-related deaths due to weather conditions.
Firearm-related deaths from unintentional, intentional and undetermined causes totaled 32,166 in 1997. Suicides accounted for nearly 55 percent of firearms deaths, about 41 percent were homicides, and more than 3 percent were unintentional deaths.
Alton Thygerson, professor of health sciences at Brigham Young University, is the National Safety Council's first aid and CPR author and technical consultant. For more information, the National Safety Council's First Aid Handbook by Thygerson is available in local bookstores.