title: Primary care visits due to injuries among the Aboriginal off-reserve population of British Columbia, Canada, 1991-2010.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Aboriginal people in British Columbia (BC) have higher injury incidence than the general population. This report describes variability in visits to primary care due to injury, among injury categories, time periods, geographies, and demographic groups.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used BC's universal health care insurance plan as a population registry, linked to practitioner payment and vital statistics databases. We identified Aboriginal people by insurance premium group and birth and death record notations. Within that population we identified those residing off-reserve according to postal code. We calculated crude incidence and Standardized Relative Risk (SRR) of primary care visit due to injury, standardized for age, gender and Health Service Delivery Area (HSDA), relative to the total population of BC.
  
  
  RESULTS
  During 1991 through 2010, the crude rate of primary care visit due to injury in BC was 3172 per 10,000 person-years. The Aboriginal off-reserve rate was 4291 per 10,000 and SRR was 1.41 (95 % confidence interval: 1.41 to 1.42). Northern and non-metropolitan HSDAs had higher SRRs, within both total BC and Aboriginal off-reserve populations. In every age and gender category, the HSDA-standardized SRR was higher among the Aboriginal off-reserve than among the total population. For all injuries combined, and for the categories of trauma, poisoning, and burn, between 1991 and 2010, crude rates and SRRs declined substantially, but proportionally more rapidly among the Aboriginal off-reserve population, so the gap between the Aboriginal off-reserve and total populations is narrowing, particularly among metropolitan residents.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings corroborate our previous reports regarding hospitalizations due to injury, suggesting that our observations reflect real disparities and changes in the underlying incidence of injury, and are not merely artefacts related to health care utilization.
authors.affiliation: Epidemiology consultant, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. ageorge@cw.bc.ca.|Child and Family Research Institute, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. ageorge@cw.bc.ca.|School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. ageorge@cw.bc.ca.|Current address: Child and Family Research Institute, Room F508, 4480 Oak Street, Vancouver, BC, V6H 3V4, Canada. ageorge@cw.bc.ca.
authors.forename: M Anne
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: George
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.|Child and Family Research Institute, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.|School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.|Current address: BC Injury Research & Prevention Unit, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: Mariana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brussoni
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: Christopher E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Lalonde
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Human, Social and Educational Development, Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: Rod
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: McCormick
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001955:British Columbia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007198:Indians, North American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000209:etiology*