Journal of Pediatric Psychology Advance Access originally published online on February 23, 2005
Journal of Pediatric Psychology 2005 30(5):413-423; doi:10.1093/jpepsy/jsi065
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Child Injury Deaths: Comparing Prevention Information from Two Coding Systems
Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Missouri-Columbia, * Present address: Department of Family Medicine, The Division of Biological Sciences, Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago, 5841 South Maryland Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60637.
All correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Patricia G. Schnitzer, Department of Family and Community Medicine, MA306, Medical Sciences Building, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri 65212. E-mail: schnitzerp{at}health.missouri.edu.
Received March 1, 2004; revisions received July 8, 2004; accepted August 17, 2004
Objectives The International Classification of Disease (ICD) external cause of injury E-codes do not sufficiently identify injury circumstances amenable to prevention. The researchers developed an alternative classification system (B-codes) that incorporates behavioral and environmental factors, for use in childhood injury research, and compare the two coding systems in this paper. Methods All fatal injuries among children less than age five that occurred between January 1, 1992, and December 31, 1994, were classified using both B-codes and E-codes. Results E-codes identified the most common causes of injury death: homicide (24%), fires (21%), motor vehicle incidents (21%), drowning (10%), and suffocation (9%). The B-codes further revealed that homicides (51%) resulted from the child being shaken or struck by another person; many fires deaths (42%) resulted from children playing with matches or lighters; drownings (46%) usually occurred in natural bodies of water; and most suffocation deaths (68%) occurred in unsafe sleeping arrangements. Conclusions B-codes identify additional information with specific relevance for prevention of childhood injuries.
Key words: child; injuries; mortality; classification; prevention public health.