Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #116847

Margaret Warner, PhD, Office of Analysis, National Center for Health Statistics, 3311 Toledo Road, Rm 6325, Hyattsville, MD 20782, 301-458-4556, mwarner@cdc.gov and Lois Fingerhut, MA, Office of Analysis, Epidemiology and Health Promotion, NCHS, 3311 Toledo Road, Hyattsville, MD 20782.

Background - Three methods of analysis of injury data using the ICD-10 injury mortality diagnosis matrix are examined. Methods - Underlying cause of injury deaths were selected from the 2002 Multiple Cause file. The record axis ‘S'/ ‘T'-codes, with exclusions, were categorized to the ICD-10 injury diagnosis matrix. Data were analyzed as the (1) number of times an injury diagnosis is mentioned, (2) total number of times the diagnosis is mentioned, and (3) number of times the diagnosis was mentioned weighted inversely proportional to the number of diagnoses per death. Results - In 2002, 246,065 injury diagnoses were mentioned in the 161,269 deaths due to an external cause (average 1.5 diagnoses per death). For example, poisonings (1.9 injury diagnoses per death) showed: (1) 15 percent (24,283/161,269) of deaths had any mention of a poisoning, (2) 17 percent (41,323/246,065) of all the injury diagnoses were poisonings, and (3) poisonings contributed to 14 percent (22,937/161,269) of all deaths if all injury diagnoses per death are weighted equally. Conclusion - Any mention (1) is dependent on method of categorization but it shows the magnitude of that condition. The total number of mentions (2) is independent of the categorization method. However, the same importance is given to all diagnoses. When each injury is weighted inversely proportional to the number of injury diagnoses (3), the statistic is independent of the categorization and adds to the number of deaths. However, the unit being counted is elusive. The end user is cautioned to look at the method when interpreting the data.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the ICD-10 injury mortality diagnosis matrix
• List three methods of analyzing the multiple cause injury diagnosis data
• Evaluate the strengths and limitations of each method

Keywords: Surveillance, Injury

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.