Data on injuries are available from a variety of sources. In most countries deaths are registered with the administration and include a cause of death. For injuries two codes are generally used by the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases, a code indicating the area injured e.g. fractured skull, and an external code (e-code) indicating the cause of the injury e.g. motor vehicle accident, poisoning etc.
Many countries also maintain a system of collecting similar information on patients admitted to hospital for at least one night. However, factors such as access to healthcare due to distance and finance often make comparison between areas or countries difficult.
In some areas information on all or a sample of injuries attending emergency rooms are collected. Since these are many times more common than patients admitted to hospital such systems are useful for collecting information on less serious injuries. Most emergency rooms admit less than 10% of patients to hospital overnight.
Many patients with minor injuries do not attend emergency rooms but attend primary or family care practitioners. Very few injury surveillance systems collect data from this group. The decision to attend a family physician rather than an emergency room can be influenced by factors such as access.
The John Hopkins Centre for Injury Research and Policy has a good website with links to many injury prevention sites.
The author has previously produced a review of effective injury prevention interventions.
Many patients with minor injuries do not attend health care and either self treat or let nature take its course. Surveys are the only method of collecting information on this group. The case definition in this study was a child aged 0-14 years with a fracture occuring in 1996 and diagnosed at one of two hospitals.