scholarly journals Natural hazard fatalities in Switzerland from 1946 to 2015

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (12) ◽  
pp. 2747-2768 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandre Badoux ◽  
Norina Andres ◽  
Frank Techel ◽  
Christoph Hegg
Keyword(s):  
Natural Hazards ◽  
Natural Hazard ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Fatal Accidents ◽  
Large Variability ◽  
Female Victims ◽  
Common Causes ◽  
Hazard Mortality ◽  
Male To Female

Abstract. A database of fatalities caused by natural hazard processes in Switzerland was compiled for the period between 1946 and 2015. Using information from the Swiss flood and landslide damage database and the Swiss destructive avalanche database, the data set was extended back in time and more hazard processes were added by conducting an in-depth search of newspaper reports. The new database now covers all natural hazards common in Switzerland, categorised into seven process types: flood, landslide, rockfall, lightning, windstorm, avalanche and other processes (e.g. ice avalanches, earthquakes). Included were all fatal accidents associated with natural hazard processes in which victims did not expose themselves to an important danger on purpose. The database contains information on 635 natural hazard events causing 1023 fatalities, which corresponds to a mean of 14.6 victims per year. The most common causes of death were snow avalanches (37 %), followed by lightning (16 %), floods (12 %), windstorms (10 %), rockfall (8 %), landslides (7 %) and other processes (9 %). About 50 % of all victims died in one of the 507 single-fatality events; the other half were killed in the 128 multi-fatality events. The number of natural hazard fatalities that occurred annually during our 70-year study period ranged from 2 to 112 and exhibited a distinct decrease over time. While the number of victims in the first three decades (until 1975) ranged from 191 to 269 per decade, it ranged from 47 to 109 in the four following decades. This overall decrease was mainly driven by a considerable decline in the number of avalanche and lightning fatalities. About 75 % of victims were males in all natural hazard events considered together, and this ratio was roughly maintained in all individual process categories except landslides (lower) and other processes (higher). The ratio of male to female victims was most likely to be balanced when deaths occurred at home (in or near a building), a situation that mainly occurred in association with landslides and avalanches. The average age of victims of natural hazards was 35.9 years and, accordingly, the age groups with the largest number of victims were the 20–29 and 30–39 year-old groups, which in combination represented 34 % of all fatalities. It appears that the overall natural hazard mortality rate in Switzerland over the past 70 years has been relatively low in comparison to rates in other countries or rates of other types of fatal accidents in Switzerland. However, a large variability in mortality rates was observed within the country with considerably higher rates in Alpine environments.

scholarly journals Natural hazard fatalities in Switzerland from 1946 to 2015

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandre Badoux ◽  
Norina Andres ◽  
Frank Techel ◽  
Christoph Hegg
Keyword(s):  
Natural Hazards ◽  
Causes Of Death ◽  
Natural Hazard ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Fatal Accidents ◽  
Female Victims ◽  
The Past ◽  
Common Causes ◽  
Male To Female

Abstract. A database of fatalities caused by natural hazard processes in Switzerland was compiled for the period between 1946 and 2015. Using information from the Swiss flood and landslide database and the Swiss destructive avalanche database, the data set was extended back in time and more hazard processes were added by conducting an in-depth search of newspaper reports. The new database now covers all natural hazards common in Switzerland categorized into seven process types: flood, landslide, rockfall, lightning, windstorm, avalanche, and other processes (e.g. ice avalanches, earthquakes). Included were all fatal accidents associated with natural hazard processes where victims did not expose themselves to an important danger on purpose or wilfully. The database contains information on 635 natural hazard events causing 1023 fatalities, which corresponds to a mean of 14.6 victims per year. The most common causes of death were snow avalanche (37 %), followed by lightning (16 %), flood (12 %), windstorm (10 %), rockfall (8 %), landslide (7 %) and other processes (9 %). About 50 % of all victims died in one of the 507 single-fatality events; the other half of victims were killed in the 128 multi-fatality events. The number of natural hazard fatalities that occurred annually during our 70-year study period ranged from two to 112 and exhibited a distinct decrease over time. While the number of victims during the first three decades (until 1975) ranged from 191 to 269 per decade, it ranged from 47 to 109 in the four following decades. This overall decrease was mainly driven by a considerable decline in the number of avalanche and lightning fatalities. About 75 % of victims were males in all natural hazard events considered together, and this ratio was roughly maintained in all individual process categories except landslides (lower) and other processes (higher). The ratio of male to female victims was most likely to be balanced when deaths occurred at home (in or near a building), a situation that mainly occurred in association with landslides and avalanches. The average age of victims of natural hazards was 35.9 years, and accordingly, the age groups with the largest number of victims were the 20–29 and 30–39 year-old groups, which in combination represented 34% of all fatalities. It appears that the natural hazard fatality rate in Switzerland during the past 70 years has been relatively low in comparison to rates in other countries or rates of other types of fatal accidents in Switzerland.

scholarly journals Time trends in hospital discharges in patients aged 85 years and older in Spain: data from the Spanish National Discharge Database (2000–2015)

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio Palacios-Fernandez ◽  
Mario Salcedo ◽  
Gregorio Gonzalez-Alcaide ◽  
Jose-Manuel Ramos-Rincon
Keyword(s):  
Length Of Stay ◽  
Hospital Admission ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Percentage Increase ◽  
Very Elderly ◽  
Hospital Discharges ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Common Causes ◽  
Discharged Patients ◽  
Hospital Systems

Abstract Background The aging population is an increasing concern in Western hospital systems. The aim of this study was to describe the main characteristics and hospitalization patterns in inpatients aged 85 years or more in Spain from 2000 to 2015. Methods Retrospective observational study analyzing data from the minimum basic data set, an administrative registry recording each hospital discharge in Spain since 1997. We collected administrative, economic and clinical data for all discharges between 2000 and 2015 in patients aged 85 years and older, reporting results in three age groups and four time periods to assess differences and compare trends. Results There were 4,387,326 discharges in very elderly patients in Spain from 2000 to 2015, representing 5.32% of total discharges in 2000–2003 and 10.42% in 2012–2015. The pace of growth was faster in older age groups, with an annual percentage increase of 6% in patients aged 85–89 years, 7.79% in those aged 90–94 years, and 8.06% in those aged 95 and older. The proportion of men also rose (37.30 to 39.70%, p < 0.001). The proportion of patients that died during hospital admission decreased from 14.64% in 2000–2003 to 13.83% in 2012–2015 (p < 0.001), and mean length of stay from 9.98 days in 2000–2003 to 8.34 days in 2012–2015. Some of the most frequent primary diagnoses became even more frequent relative to the total number of primary diagnoses, such as heart failure (7.84 to 10.62%), pneumonia (6.36 to 7.36%), other respiratory diseases (3.87 to 8.49%) or other alterations of urinary tract (3.08 to 5.20%). However, there was a relative decrease in the proportion of femoral neck fractures (8.07 to 6.77%), neoplasms (7.65 to 7.34%), ischemic encephalopathy (6.97 to 5.85%), COPD (4.23 to 3.15%), ischemic cardiomyopathy (4.20 to 8.49%) and cholelithiasis (3.07 to 3.28%). Conclusions Discharges in the very elderly population are increasing in both relative and absolute terms in Spanish hospitals. Within this group, discharged patients are getting older and more frequently male. The mean length of stay and the proportion of patients that died during hospital admission are decreasing. Acute-on-chronic organ diseases, neoplasms, acute cardiovascular diseases, and infections are the most common causes of discharge.

scholarly journals Comparing Female Victims of Separation/Divorce Assault across Geographical Regions

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter S DeKeseredy ◽  
Callie Marie Rennison
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
The United States ◽  
National Crime Victimization Survey ◽  
Woman Abuse ◽  
Crime Victimization ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Female Victims ◽  
Geographical Regions ◽  
Male To Female

Recent analyses of National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) data show that male-to-female separation/divorce assault varies across geographic regions in the United States, with rural rates of such woman abuse being higher than those for suburban and urban areas. Using the same data set, the main objective of this paper is to present the results of an investigation into whether characteristics of female victims of separation/divorce assault also differ across urban, suburban, and rural communities.

Early experience of laparoscopic cholecystectomy in acutely inflamed gallbladder

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (SPL1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Abdul Hussein Handoz ◽  
Ahmed Kh Alsagban
Keyword(s):  
Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy ◽  
Acute Cholecystitis ◽  
Gall Stone ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Stone Disease ◽  
Definitive Treatment ◽  
Adjacent Structures ◽  
Common Causes ◽  
Gall Stone Disease ◽  
Male To Female

Gallstones are now among the most important disease in the era of surgery. Definitive treatment of gall stone disease remains cholecystectomy. One of the common causes of emergency surgical referral is acute cholecystitis of which 50-70% cases are seen in the elderly patients.50 patients were treated with laparoscopic cholecystectomy from October 2013 to October 2015. The patient’s age was from 20 to 65 years old with a mean age of 34 ±3 years old. The patients received in the emergency unit and their attack not more than 72 hrs of acute gall stone inflammation were included in this study.From the 50 patients,15 were males (34%) and females were 35 (74%) so the ratio of 1:2of male to female. Problems and complications that facing in this study at time of laparoscopy were mainly adhesions to the adjacent structures like stomach, colon, and omentum. Adhesion into CBD also considered.Early intervention for acute cholecystitis of calculus type by laparoscopy now regarding safe and gold standard approach that should be kept in mind when dealing with such cases.

scholarly journals Femicide Fatal Risk Factors: A Last Decade Comparison between Italian Victims of Femicide by Age Groups

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (21) ◽  
pp. 7953
Author(s):  
Anna Sorrentino ◽  
Chiara Guida ◽  
Vincenza Cinquegrana ◽  
Anna Costanza Baldry
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Older Women ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Policy Implication ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Intimate Partner ◽  
International Studies ◽  
Wide Spread ◽  
Female Victims

Femicide is a wide-spread lethal form of violence against women. Despite its diffusion, to date, very few studies analyzed possible victims’ age differences in regard to fatal risk factors for femicide. To this aim, we carried out archive research on Italian femicide cases in the last decade, by comparing prior types of violence suffered and motives for femicide, which are considered crucial fatal risk factors for femicide, across adolescent/young (15–24 years), adults (25–64 years) and older women (65–93 years). From 2010 to 2019 we found 1207 female victims. Characteristics of victims, perpetrators, and their relationship were consistent with those found by international studies and underlined that the majority of femicides were perpetrated by an intimate partner. The results regarding fatal risk factors comparisons across age groups showed the existence of significant differences regarding both types of violence suffered prior to femicide and motives for femicide. The results are discussed in terms of policy implication and intervention.

scholarly journals WHY DON’T OLDER ADULTS USE SENIOR CENTERS? EVIDENCE FROM A SAMPLE OF MASSACHUSETTS ADULTS AGE 50 AND OLDER

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S498-S498
Author(s):  
Ceara Somerville ◽  
Nidya Velasco Roldan ◽  
Cindy N Bui ◽  
Caitlin E Coyle
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Senior Center ◽  
Community Resource ◽  
Senior Centers ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Younger Age ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Vast Range

Abstract Senior centers are an integral community resource, providing programs and services intended to meet the vast range of needs and interests of older adults. There is a growing literature describing senior center participants and benefits to participation, but little is known about those who choose not to participate at a local senior center. This presentation uniquely characterizes non-users of senior centers, based on a sample of community-dwelling adults aged 50+ from seven communities in Massachusetts (N = 9,462). To date, this is the largest data set that describes senior center usage. Most of the sample were women (60%) and in the 60-69 age group (36%). More than three quarters of the sample do not use the local senior center (77%). The most common reasons for non-usage were lack of interest (27%) and not feeling old enough (26%). There are significant differences in reasons of non-usage among age groups and gender (p &lt; .001). Younger age groups’ (50-69) most popular reasons for non-usage were not feeling old enough, not having time, inconvenient senior center hours, and not knowing what is offered. In contrast, older age groups (80+) more frequently reported having no interest or using programs elsewhere. Men were more likely to report not being interested and not being familiar with what is offered. Women were more likely to report not having time, inconvenient hours of programming, and using programs elsewhere. Based on results from this study, this presentation will outline implications for the future of senior centers and their programming.

scholarly journals Results on sports-related injuries in children from NHS emergency care dataset Oxfordshire pilot: an ecological study

2018 ◽  
Vol 112 (3) ◽  
pp. 109-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Kirkwood ◽  
Thomas C Hughes ◽  
Allyson M Pollock
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Department ◽  
Emergency Care ◽  
Ecological Study ◽  
Bone Fractures ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Sports Injury ◽  
Rugby Union ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Horse Riding ◽  
Injury Data

Summary Objectives To analyse and report on sports-related injuries using enhanced injury data collected by the testbed for the NHS emergency care injury data set and admissions data collected from inpatients. Design Ecological study design. Setting Two Oxfordshire NHS England hospitals. Participants Emergency department attendees and inpatients aged 0–19 years with sports injuries. Main outcome measures Data were analysed from 1 January 2012 to 30 March 2014 by age, gender sport, injury location, injury mechanism and diagnosis including concussion/post-concussion, bone fractures and ligament damage. Admissions data were analysed from 1 January 2012 to 24 January 2015. Results Children and adolescents aged 0–19 years accounted for almost half (47.4%) of sports injury-related emergency department attendances and almost one-quarter (23.5%) of sports injury-related admissions for all ages. The highest rates of attendance occurred at 14 years for boys (68.22 per 1000 person-years) and 12 years for girls (33.72 per 1000 person-years). For male 0–19-year-olds the three main sports were (in order) football (soccer), rugby union and rugby league and for females, trampoline, netball and horse-riding. The largest gender differences were in netball where injuries were predominantly in females and in wheeled motorsports where injuries were predominantly in males. Almost one-quarter of emergency department sports-related injuries recorded were fractures, the highest percentage to the upper limbs. Conclusions Public health departments in local authorities and schools should consider target sports injury prevention at children in the first four years of secondary school. For younger age groups, trampolines in the home warrant improved safety. Rugby and horse-riding should also be a focus for interventions.

Pipeline Vulnerability to Natural Hazards

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Vicente Amórtegui
Keyword(s):  
Stress State ◽  
Risk Analysis ◽  
Natural Hazards ◽  
Natural Hazard ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Monitoring Systems ◽  
System Vulnerability ◽  
Preventive Actions ◽  
Strength And Stiffness ◽  
External Forces

The strength and stiffness of the pipelines allow them to tolerate the effects of natural hazards for some period of time. The amount of time depends on the strength and deformability, the stress state, the age, the conditions of installation and operation of the pipeline and their geometric arrangement with regard to the hazardous process. Accordingly, some of the hazards due to weather conditions and external forces would not be time independent. In consequence the designing of monitoring systems to predict the behavior of the pipelines against natural hazards is required in order to carry out the preventive actions which are necessary to avoid failure of the pipes due to the exposition to those hazards. In this paper a method for assessing the transport system vulnerability is developed, a function for risk analysis is proposed (which is determined by the probability of the natural hazard, the pipeline’s vulnerability to the hazard and the consequences of the pipe rupture). The elements that are part of that evaluation are presented and illustrated by means of examples.

scholarly journals Landscape analysis for multi-hazard prevention in Orco and Soana valleys, Northwest Italy

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (9) ◽  
pp. 1963-1972 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Turconi ◽  
D. Tropeano ◽  
G. Savio ◽  
S. K. De ◽  
P. J. Mason
Keyword(s):  
Natural Hazards ◽  
Natural Hazard ◽  
Thematic Maps ◽  
Italian Alps ◽  
Alpine Environment ◽  
Natural Risk ◽  
Mountainous Regions ◽  
Morphological Studies ◽  
Field Evidence ◽  
Different Types

Abstract. The study area (600 km2), consisting of Orco and Soana valleys in the Western Italian Alps, experienced different types of natural hazards, typical of the whole Alpine environment. Some of the authors have been requested to draw a civil protection plan for such mountainous regions. This offered the special opportunity (1) to draw a lot of unpublished historical data, dating back several centuries mostly concerning natural hazard processes and related damages, (2) to develop original detailed geo-morphological studies in a region still poorly known, (3) to prepare detailed thematic maps illustrating landscape components related to natural conditions and hazards, (4) to thoroughly check present-day situations in the area compared to the effects of past events and (5) to find adequate natural hazard scenarios for all sites exposed to risk. The method of work has been essentially to compare archival findings with field evidence in order to assess natural hazard processes, their occurrence and magnitude, and to arrange all such elements in a database for GIS-supported thematic maps. Several types of natural hazards, such as landslides, rockfalls, debris flows, stream floods and snow avalanches cause huge damage to lives and properties (housings, roads, tourist sites). We aim to obtain newly acquired knowledge in this large, still poorly understood area as well as develop easy-to-interpret products such as natural risk maps.

scholarly journals Assessing the risk posed by natural hazards to infrastructures

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Unni Marie Kolderup Eidsvig ◽  
Krister Kristensen ◽  
Bjørn Vidar Vangelsten
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Natural Hazards ◽  
Natural Hazard ◽  
Quality Level ◽  
Quantitative Methodology ◽  
Cascading Effects ◽  
Natural Event ◽  
Ranking Criteria ◽  
Adverse Weather ◽  
Restoration Effort

Abstract. This paper proposes a model for assessing the risk posed by natural hazards to infrastructures. The model prescribes a three level analysis with increasing level of detail, moving from qualitative to quantitative analysis. The focus is on a methodology for semi-quantitative analysis to be performed at the second level. The purpose of this type of analysis is to perform a screening of the scenarios of natural hazards threatening the infrastructures, identifying the most critical scenarios and investigating the need for further analyses (third level). The proposed semi-quantitative methodology considers the frequency of the natural hazard, different aspects of vulnerability including the physical vulnerability of the infrastructure itself and the societal dependency on the infrastructure. An indicator-based approach is applied, ranking the indicators on a relative scale according to pre-defined ranking criteria. The proposed indicators, which characterize conditions that influence the probability of an infrastructure break-down caused by a natural event, are defined as 1) Robustness and buffer capacity, 2) Level of protection, 3) Quality/Level of maintenance and renewal, 4) Adaptability and quality in operational procedures and 5) Transparency/complexity/degree of coupling. Further indicators describe the societal consequences of the infrastructure failure, such as Redundancy and/or substitution, Restoration effort/duration, Preparedness, early warning and emergency response and Dependencies and cascading effects. The aggregated risk estimate is a combination of the semi-quantitative vulnerability indicators, as well as quantitative estimates of the frequency of the natural hazard, the potential duration of the infrastructure malfunctioning (depending e.g. on the required restoration effort) and the number of users of the infrastructure. Case studies for two Norwegian municipalities are presented where risk posed by adverse weather and natural hazards to primary road, water supply and power network is assessed. The application examples show that the proposed model provides a useful tool for screening of potential undesirable events, contributing to a targeted reduction of the risk.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document