TY - JOUR T1 - Gaps in injury statistics: multiple injury profiles reveal them and provide a comprehensive account JF - Injury Prevention JO - Inj Prev SP - 197 LP - 200 DO - 10.1136/ip.2005.008227 VL - 11 IS - 4 AU - L Aharonson-Daniel AU - A Giveon AU - K Peleg Y1 - 2005/08/01 UR - http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/11/4/197.abstract N2 - Objective: To demonstrate the benefit of using multiple injury profiles (MIP) as an alternative to “primary diagnosis,” for the presentation and analysis of multiple injuries in populations. Methods: Retrospective analysis of national trauma registry data in Israel between 1 January 1998 and 31 December 2002. Multiple diagnoses per patient were recorded. A primary diagnosis was selected for each patient and data were presented twice: first by selecting a primary diagnosis and then using multiple injury profiles. Results: 23 909 transport casualties were included. Findings show that MIP enable the identification of all patients with a specific injury, even where secondary. The proportion of additional injuries recorded when using MIP ranged from 12% in head injuries to 270% for facial injuries. Based on the primary diagnosis patients with head, chest, and abdominal injuries had a 5–6% inpatient death rate each. Multiple injury profiles of the same population reveal that an isolated head injury has a 3% inpatient death rate, isolated chest and isolated abdomen have a 1% inpatient death rate, while combined head and chest casualties have a 21% inpatient death rate. Conclusions: Multiple injury profiles are a new approach that enables presenting an improved picture of injury in a population. ER -