Injury profiling

Abstract

The Barell Body Region by Nature of Injury Diagnosis matrix has been used since 2002 to characterize the patterns of injury in various reports. The Matrix includes all ICD-9-CM codes describing trauma; thus it reduces the volume of ICD categories into a manageable number of clinically meaningful diagnostic categories, enabling standardized case-mix comparison across time and place. The matrix concept is adaptable to AIS injury codes as well, enabling a wider application for the analysis of traumatic injuries. The summation of injury diagnoses, including multiple injuries in a single patient using the matrix, formed the standardized multiple injury profiles (MIPs), a tool for epidemiological analysis of injuries in a population. MIP offers a standardized approach to statistical and epidemiological reports on injured patients, taking into account not only the first-listed/primary diagnosis but also additional ones. The tools detailed in this chapter are described with the vision of future developments and the relationship between the matrix and injury severity indices. The Barell matrix and its derivatives enable standardized comparisons of injury statistics across time and place and facilitate the provision of epidemiological reports. The application of these methods will raise awareness to the burden of injury on populations worldwide.