DogsBite Blog ::

dog bite statistics

Monday, January 21, 2008


1991-2002 Alaska Led U.S. in Dog Bite Fatalities and Injuries

Hospitalizations Triple
Fairbanks, AK - Alaskans -- especially very young Alaskans -- were much more likely to be killed or seriously injured by dog bites from 1991-2002 than residents of the Lower 48, according to the state Section of Epidemiology. During this period, nine people died and 288 were hospitalized for injuries.

The oldest Alaskan to die was just over 5 years old while nationally half of deaths occurred in people older than 10, the agency reported. Among those who required hospitalization, the rate of Alaska children younger than 4 years old was three times higher than the national rate, the report said.

Eight of the nine deaths were of Alaska Natives, and the mean age of incidents that ended in death was 45 months. Alaska Natives also made up 40 percent of injury hospitalizations. Louisa Castrodale, who complied the report, said the data cannot say why there are a significantly higher number of Native injuries because it focused on ages only and not factors.

Alaska Report at a Glance:
  • Deaths (1991-2002): 9
  • Median Age: 54 months
  • Age Range: 9 to 64 months
  • Circumstances: Three cases of free-roaming dogs, three of chained dogs, one victim wandered into dog lot, one attacked indoors by pet, one unknown
  • Hospitalizations (1991-2002): 288
  • Median Age: 9 years
  • Gender of Victim: 57 percent males
  • Race: 60 percent Natives
  • Average Hospital Stay: 3 days
  • Types of Injuries: head and neck, 43 percent; upper extremity, 40 percent
Related article:
Hospitalizations Resulting from Dog Bite Injuries -- Alaska, 1991-2002

posted by karen  |  permalink  |  2 comments  |iconemail  |iconsubscribe  |iconcomment rss 
« View Older Posts      View Newer Posts »

2 comments:

Blogger Karen  |  8/19/2009 1:21 AM  |  Flag  
The abbreviation for Alaska is AK, not AL (which is Alabama).

The reason why there were more deaths among the native population is because most natives are village dwellers, and villages tend to have a much higher dog ownership rate than people in the cities. That's because many more villagers use the dogs for transportation in the winter. It would be interesting to see these percentages normalized for rural vs urban dog ownership.

Blogger bitbypit  |  8/19/2009 2:02 AM  |  Flag  
Thank you for the state abbreviation correction. You "might" find related information in the Canadian fatal dog attack study (1990-2007), as the issues are similar with rural dog ownership. In fact, the abstract states the following:

"Free-roaming dog packs, reported only from rural communities, caused most on-reserve fatalities. Future studies are needed to assess if this rural/urban divide is observed in nonfatal attacks and if the breeds that bite in Canada are different from the breeds that killed."

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2387261

Post a Comment »

archives: