A profile of working age male immigrant deaths caused by unintentional injury in the United Arab Emirates

The unintentional injury death rates of workers living in rapidly developing countries are on the rise across the world. Immigrant workers (non-citizens) have been documented in many regions to be at even greater risk of death caused by unintentional injury than workers who are citizens. Investigators found 73.8 % of deaths reported in the six United Arab Emirates (UAE) medical regions under study were males in the years 2006-2008. Of those male deaths, 74.8 % were immigrants (non-citizens). an analysis was conducted by researchers to determine if the rate of unintentional injury death reported for male immigrants of working age differ significantly by cause of unintentional injury from the death rate for male UAE citizens. Non-parametric statistics were used to determine if the death rate of working age immigrant male differed significantly from citizen males for death caused by Accidental Falls, Accidental Poisonings, Motor Vehicles & Traffic Accidents and Accidents & Adverse Effects for the years of 2006-2008, by district and by season of the year. Preliminary analysis found the observed rate of death of UAE male immigrants of working age (non-citizens) from accidental falls to be higher than the expected rate for male citizens in the same group. This presentation outlines findings addressing the rate of unintentional death by cause for male immigrants of working age in the UAE. Presented discussion and recommendations focus on strategies to enhance the information incorporated in UAE regional medical district surveillance reporting systems and the importance of using rates for surveillance reports.