Injury Related Deaths

Key Messages
Proportionate Mortality
Cause-Specific Mortality
Technical Notes

Key Messages

• While injury and poisoning deaths among youth and young adults are relatively rare, they account for a disproportionate number of deaths when compared with older age groups.
• Falls are the leading cause of injury and poisoning related deaths in Simcoe Muskoka, but this is primarily among seniors 65+. Self-harm and unintentional poisonings are the leading causes of injury and poisoning deaths among youth and younger adults.

Proportionate Mortality

In Simcoe Muskoka during the five-year period between 2014 and 2018 there were 1,667 deaths due to injuries and poisonings (both intentional and unintentional), which accounted for 7% of all deaths during this period. The proportion of deaths from injuries and poisonings is disproportionately higher among youth 10 to 19 years of age (68% of all deaths) and young adults 20 to 44 years of age (53% of all deaths) when compared with younger children (8% of all deaths) and those 45 years of age and older (5% of all deaths).

Cause-Specific Mortality

The figure below shows the type of injuries that caused the most deaths in all age groups in Simcoe Muskoka between 2014 and 2018. Falls (37%) were the leading cause of injury and poisoning deaths, followed by: intentional self-harm (20%), unintentional poisonings (16%) and land transport accidents (11%). The "other" category (11%) includes injury-related deaths that do not fit into any of the categories listed. This includes (but isn’t limited to) deaths due to being struck by or against an object or another person, being bitten or struck by an animal, and accidental injuries from machinery or firearms.

The table below shows the leading causes of injury and poisoning related deaths by age group in Simcoe Muskoka between 2014 and 2018. Injury and poisoning deaths among children under 10 years of age were very rare, with only 11 recorded in all of Simcoe Muskoka over this five-year period. Half of all of injury and poisoning deaths among youth between 10 and 19 years of age were from intentional self-harm. Intentional self-harm was also among the leading causes of injury and poisoning deaths for adults 20 to 44 years of age (28%) and adults 45 to 64 years of age (34%). Unintentional poisoning was the leading cause of injury and poisoning death among adults 20 to 44 years of age (39%) and the second leading causes among adults 45 to 64 years of age (27%). The vast majority of all unintentional poisoning deaths were caused by exposure to narcotics or hallucinogens or other non-specified drugs . Falls was the leading cause of injury-related deaths for seniors 65 years and older (70%).

Leading Causes of Injury & Poisoning Deaths, Simcoe Muskoka Residents, by Age Group, 2014 to 2018 (combined)

The source of the death data used to create this page is from the Vital Statistics collected by the Office of the Registrar General in Ontario and distributed by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.

Technical Notes

Proportionate mortality describes the proportion of deaths in a specified population over a period of time attributable to different causes. The proportion of all deaths that were a result of an injury or poisoning are presented on this page. The cause-specific injury mortality data presented on this page follow APHEO core indicator definitions.

For more information on the number of emergency room visits, hospitalizations and deaths caused by motor vehicle collisions, please visit the HealthSTATS pages on on-road motor vehicle injuries, off-road motor vehicle injuries, motorcycle injuries, pedestrian injuries and cycling injuries.