Colorado Study

Unintentional injuries constitute the fifth leading cause of death in Colorado, killing over 1,400 Coloradans
each year between 1996 and 1998. The number of deaths from unintentional injuries increased from 1,161 in
1990 to 1,539 in 1998. Deaths due to injuries during recreational activities are of particular interest in Colo-
rado. This Brief aims to describe recreational activities-related fatalities that occurred in Colorado from 1996
through 1998 using the same procedures as those in a previous report describing recreational fatalities from
1993 through 19951.
Unlike fatalities from most other leading causes of death, identification of the circumstances of injury death is
not always possible through use of underlying cause of death codes. Therefore, to identify recreation-related
fatalities, injury descriptions provided on the death certificate of all deaths occurring in Colorado during 1996
through 1998 were examined. Recreation relatedness was determined by analysis of the complete death certifi-
cate for each suspected case. Motor vehicle fatalities (decedent was a driver, passenger, or pedestrian) were
not included in this report.
Although every effort was made to uncover all recreation-related deaths occurring in Colorado, this compila-
tion may not be all inclusive. Due to the difficult nature of determining such fatalities, some recreational
fatalities may have been missed.
The recreational fatalities identified were grouped by categories that best described the deaths and allowed for
meaningful analyses. Because no standard categories for recreational deaths exist, the categories in the previ-
ous Brief and this report were determined by the Health Statistics Section after analysis of various reports and
consultation with individuals specializing in injury epidemiology. Information regarding certain recreational
categories is contained in the text for each category.
The data presented in this report are for those recreational fatalities that occurred during the calendar years
1996-1998 in the state of Colorado to both state residents and nonresidents. Because of the small sample size,
the conclusions drawn in this report might differ from the conclusions made in the previous report, and the
results should be interpreted with caution.

For the purposes of this Brief, canoeing and kayaking deaths
have been grouped together. There were seven canoeing/
kayaking-related deaths and 14 rafting deaths.
Seventeen of those who died from canoeing/kayaking and/or raft-
ing accidents were male. Eleven of the 21 fatalities (52 percent)
were over 40 years of age.
All 21 canoeing/kayaking and rafting fatalities were caused by
accidental submersion and/or drowning.