Local television news coverage of traumatic deaths and injuries.

Objective: To assess how local television news programs' reporting of injuries and deaths from traumatic causes compares with coroners' records of deaths and the estimated incidence of injuries in the same geographic area during the same time.

Methods: Using epidemiologic methods, we identified the underlying cause of death or injury in each of 828 local television news stories broadcast in Los Angeles during late 1996 or early 1997 that concerned recent (<3 days) traumatic injuries or deaths in Los Angeles County. Odds ratios were computed using deaths by homicide or injuries sustained in assaults as the referent group.

Early predictors of mortality in penetrating compared with closed brain injury.

Introduction: Although brain injury incidence rates have been decreasing, the proportion of these injuries which are penetrating has been increasing. This study compares mortality amongst persons with penetrating and closed brain injuries and explores the relationship of early predictors of mortality.

Methods: The study included 795 moderately or severely brain injured individuals identified through the UCLA Brain Injury Research Centre.

A geographic analysis of motor vehicle collisions with child pedestrians in Long Beach, California: comparing intersection and midblock incident locations.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to use geographic information system (GIS) software to locate areas of high risk for child pedestrian-motor vehicle collisions in the city of Long Beach and to compare risk factors between midblock and intersection collisions.

Methods: Children 0-14 years of age involved in a motor vehicle versus pedestrian collision that occurred on public roadways in Long Beach, CA, between 1 January 1992 and 30 June 1995, were identified retrospectively from police reports. The GIS software program, ArcView, was used for spatial analysis and distance calculations.

Assessment of hospital and police ascertainment of automobile versus childhood pedestrian and bicyclist collisions.

Information about automobile versus pedestrian or bicyclist collisions differ according to the source of collision ascertainment. Hospital records and police reports focus on different characteristics of a collision, which reflects differences in case finding as well as information regarding risk factors. Pedestrians and bicyclists 0-14 years of age who were involved in a motor vehicle collision in the city of Long Beach, CA, between January 1, 1992 and June 30, 1995, were included in the study.

The role of surveillance and evaluation research in the reduction of violence against workers.

Background: Violence against workers is garnering increased attention as awareness grows of the toll violent events have on workers and work environments.

Methods: In this review, we summarize information about surveillance of violent events in the workplace and summarize evaluations of intervention programs to reduce such violence. We describe surveillance programs that nationally collect data, and we compare some data.

Workplace violence in municipal occupations.

Although workplace homicide rates are decreasing, violent events in the workplace remain a high risk in many occupations. The number of violent victimizations in the workplace has been estimated to be as high as 2 million per year among workers. Many municipal workers are at high risk because they provide services and enforce regulations, often in unsecured environments.

Survey research in disaster public health.

Introduction: While much has been learned during the past three decades of research in the disaster field, there still are some major gaps in knowledge. The need for more and better research on the health aspects of disasters is especially noted. Often, research into the health aspects has been anecdotal in nature and suffers from poor documentation of human losses.

Violence and its injury consequences in American movies: a public health perspective.

Objectives: To evaluate the seriousness and frequency of violence and the degree of associated injury depicted in the 100 top-grossing American films of 1994.

Methods: Each scene in each film was examined for the presentation of violent actions on persons and coded by a systematic context-sensitive analytic scheme. Specific degrees of violence and indices of injury severity were abstracted.

Injury hospitalizations before and after the 1994 Northridge, California earthquake.

This study compared hospital-admitted injuries during the 14 days after the Northridge, California, earthquake of January 17, 1994, with hospital-admitted injuries during the preceding 16 days at the same facilities. Seventy-eight hospitals providing emergency care in Los Angeles County were screened; 16 were identified as having admitted at least one person for an earthquake-related injury. Retrospective chart reviews of hospitalized injuries for all of January 1994 were conducted at those facilities.

Violence and its injury consequences in American movies: a public health perspective.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the seriousness and frequency of violence and the degree of associated injury depicted in the 100 top grossing American films of 1994.

Methods: Each scene in each film was examined for the presentation of violent actions upon persons and coded by means of a systematic context sensitive analytic scheme. Specific degrees of violence and indices of injury severity were abstracted.

Effectiveness of crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) in reducing robberies.

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) approach in reducing robberies.

Methods: CPTED evaluations were obtained through a comprehensive search mechanism. Two sets of inclusion criteria were used: 16 primary studies evaluated a CPTED program with a comparison period; 12 secondary studies presented some evidence of CPTED effects but were not required to have the same level of scientific rigor.

GIS mapping of earthquake-related deaths and hospital admissions from the 1994 Northridge, California, Earthquake.

Purpose: Earthquakes pose a persistent but unpredictable health threat. Although knowledge of geologic earthquake hazards for buildings has increased, spatial relations between injuries and seismic activity have not been explained.

Methods: Fatal and hospital-admitted earthquake injuries due to the 1994 Northridge Earthquake were identified.

Workplace-violence investigations by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, 1993-1996.

In response to the growing recognition of violence in the workplace, government agencies who oversee workplace safety are beginning to incorporate security issues into comprehensive safety plans. The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health began conducting inspections for violent events in 1993, and information from these security inspections was collected from January 1993 through January 1997. The inspections were examined by initiating source, industry, type of event, and citations issued and compared with distributions of known victimizations.

Driver compliance with stop signs at pedestrian crosswalks on a university campus.

Pedestrians on college campuses interact continuously with various motorized vehicles. Rates of compliance with stop signs at pedestrian crosswalks and noncomplying vehicles were monitored in spring 1996 on a large urban campus. The number of pedestrians, pedestrian clearance, type of vehicle, hour of day, and day of week were monitored at 3 pedestrian crosswalks.

The prevalence of non-standard helmet use and head injuries among motorcycle riders.

Objectives: This study examined the prevalence of non-standard helmet use among motorcycle riders following introduction of a mandatory helmet use law and the prevalence of head injuries among a sample of non-standard helmet users involved in motorcycle crashes.

Methods: Motorcycle rider observations were conducted at 29 statewide locations in the 2 years following the introduction of the mandatory helmet use law in January, 1992. Medical records of motorcyclists who were injured in 1992 for whom a crash report was available and for whom medical care was administered in one of 28 hospitals were reviewed.

The relationship between socioeconomic factors and gang violence in the City of Los Angeles.

Objective: To investigate the relationship between community-level socioeconomic factors and the incidence of gang-related homicide in the city of Los Angeles.

Methods: An ecological group-level analysis was conducted to correlate the 5-year incidence rates (from 1988 through 1992) of gang-related homicide with community-level socioeconomic statistics for the 18 geographically distinct Los Angeles Police Department divisions. Eight socioeconomic factors were examined: (1) log mean per capita income, (2) proportion employed, (3) proportion high school graduates, (4) proportion single-parent families, (5) proportion male, (6) proportion younger than 20 years of age, (7) proportion African American, and (8) proportion Hispanic.

The effect of random alcohol screening in reducing motor vehicle crash injuries.

Objective: Programs that randomly stop drivers to detect alcohol use have been introduced as a deterrence measure for drinking and driving. The objective of this review is to determine if this random screening reduces fatalities and injuries. The two types of random screening programs included are Random Breath Testing and Sobriety Checkpoints.

Traumatic occupational fatalities in the retail industry, United States 1992-1996.

Background: Retail is a growing economic sector and employs an increasing number of the overall workforce, yet little is known about the incidence and characteristics of work-related deaths in the retail industry.

Methods: Workplace deaths were examined using the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries from 1992 through 1996. Occupational fatality rates were calculated by age, gender, and type of establishment, and characteristics of occupational deaths in the retail industry were compared to other industries.

Epidemiologic features of facial injuries among motorcyclists.

Study Objective: To describe the extent, nature, and severity of facial injuries among motorcyclists injured in a crash requiring hospital treatment.

Methods: The study population consisted of 5,790 motorcycle riders who sustained a nonfatal crash injury during 1991, 1992, or 1993 in 10 California counties. The injured riders were identified in 28 hospitals during 1991 and 1992 and in 18 of these 28 hospitals in 1993.

Surveillance of non-fatal workplace assault injuries, using police and employers' reports.

Although the majority of work-related homicides are routinely reported in the United States, information on non-fatal events is less complete. Comprehensive surveillance of non-fatal events depends on understanding reporting trends to different agencies. This study characterizes workplace assaults reported to police and through employers in eight southern California cities.

Fatal and hospitalized injuries resulting from the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

Background: The Northridge earthquake struck Los Angeles on 17 January 1994, originating from a previously unknown thrust fault. The earthquake measured 6.7 on the Richter scale and caused extensive damage to buildings, utilities and roadways.

Traffic-related injury hospitalizations among California elderly, 1994.

Traffic-related injuries among the elderly are a growing concern in most developed and many developing countries. To better understand injuries sustained by the elderly in the traffic environment, hospitalizations for traffic-related injuries among those aged 64 and over in California in 1994 were examined to determine incidence and characterize injuries. Both injury incidence and injury severity increased as age increased over 64.

Relationship between driver's record and automobile versus child pedestrian collisions.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to explain the relationship of a history of driver's violations as a factor in motor vehicle versus child pedestrian injury incidents.

Methods: A case-control study was conducted utilizing police reports from 1 January 1993, to 30 June 1995, to identify drivers (cases) whose car struck a child pedestrian less than 15 years of age. Controls were randomly selected drivers identified from the license files of the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) who had no record of striking a child pedestrian in the 30 month study period.