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Inj Prev 2009;15:275-277 doi:10.1136/ip.2008.018747
  • Brief report

Mortality due to injuries by place of occurrence in the European region: analysis of data quality in the WHO mortality database

  1. I Suárez García1,
  2. D Sethi2,
  3. A Hutchings3
  1. 1
    Department of Internal Medicine, Hospital Infanta Sofía, Madrid, Spain
  2. 2
    Technical Officer, WHO Regional Office for Europe, Rome, Italy
  3. 3
    Department of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
  1. Dr I Suárez García, Servicio de Medicina Interna, Hospital Infanta Sofía, Paseo de Europa 34, 28702 San Sebastián de los Reyes, Madrid, Spain; inessuarez{at}hotmail.com
  • Accepted 12 February 2009

Abstract

Background and Objective: The 10th revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10) has codes for the place of occurrence of external causes of mortality. The purpose of this study was to investigate the quality of data available in the World Health Organization (WHO) mortality database on the place of occurrence of fatal injuries in the European region.

Methods: Data on external causes of mortality from countries in the European region according to the ICD-10 with four-character subdivision, between the years 1998 and 2003, were analysed. The quality of ICD-10 place of occurrence data was analysed for each country, based on the completeness, coverage and percentage of unspecified place of injury occurrence.

Results: Only three countries in the European region (Hungary, Iceland and Lithuania) had high quality of data on place of occurrence of injuries, and six had medium-quality data.

Conclusions: Few countries in the European region have injury mortality data of adequate quality by place of occurrence.

Footnotes

  • Competing interests: None declared.

  • Funding: ISG was supported during part of the conduction of this study by a scholarship from British Council/“La Caixa”.

  • Disclaimer: The original databases used in this study were provided by WHO. All analyses, interpretations and conclusions in this manuscript are responsibility of the authors and not of WHO.

  • Contributors: ISG contributed to the design, undertook the data analysis and wrote the first draft of the paper. DS conceived the idea, and contributed to the design, interpretation of the data and writing. AH contributed to the design, interpretation of the data and writing.

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