Corrections

In the recent article by Boyd and colleagues,¹ the underlined sentence was omitted from the second paragraph of the Interpretation. This paragraph should have read as follows:

Trauma was also a significant contributing factor in a substantial proportion of asphyxia deaths. We found that 13% (12/92) of asphyxia victims who underwent autopsy had major trauma, defined as an injury severity score greater than 15.16 If the entire population of 204 fatalities is considered, this results in 10% (20/204) of cases with combined trauma and asphyxia, over and above the 24% (48/204) of cases determined to be caused by trauma alone. Thus, in western Canada, during the study period, major trauma contributed to a total of 33% (68/204) of avalanche deaths overall and, for ice climbers, to more than 50% (7/13) of deaths. This is a far greater proportion than reported in a well-designed Austrian study, in which trauma was reported as the cause of death in only 5.6% of cases.9 In our study, trees were identified as the most common objects hit in trauma deaths. This may be explained by the much greater access to forested ski terrain in Canada20 than in Europe. In a recent study from Utah, United States, trauma was the immediate cause of death in 5.4% of cases and contributed to death in an additional 8.9% of 56 avalanche fatalities.21 Variations between studies point to differences in geography, such as mountain topography and distances for rescue flights, as well as demographics, notably different activity types.9,21-23