J Prev Med Public Health.  2008 Jul;41(4):265-271. 10.3961/jpmph.2008.41.4.265.

The Incidence and Patterns of Unintentional Injuries in Daily Life in Korea: A Nationwide Study

• Park K
• Eun SJ
• Lee EJ
• Lee CE
• Park DY
• Han K
• Kim Y
• Lee JS

• KMID: 792567
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3961/jpmph.2008.41.4.265

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to estimate the cumulative incidence rate (CIR) of unintentional injuries in Korean daily life and to describe the pattern of unintentional injuries. METHODS: The study population was the people who used the National Health Insurance because of injuries (ICD code: S00~T98) during 2006. The stratified sample according to gender, age and the severity of injury (NISS, New Injury Severity Score) was randomly selected. The questions on the questionnaire were developed as a reference for an international classification tool (ICECI, International Classification of External Causes of Injury). The questions included the locations of injury, the mechanisms of injury and the results of injury. Moreover, we used age, gender, region and income variables for analysis. RESULTS: The CIR of unintentional injuries that occurred in daily life for 1 year per 100,000 persons was 17,606, and the CIR of severe injuries was 286. Many injuries were occurred at home (29.6%), public places (19.0%), school (13.7%) and near home (12.0%). The major mechanisms of injuries were slipping (48.8%), contact (14.0%), physical over-exertion (13.8%), and fall (6.6%). Infants and old aged people were vulnerable to injuries, and those who lived rural area and who were in a low income level were vulnerable too. CONCLUSIONS: We signified the risk groups and risk settings of unintentional injuries in Korean daily life. These results could contribute to establishing strategies for injury prevention and implementing these strategies.

Keyword

Daily life; Incidence; Pattern; Unintentional injury

MeSH Terms

Accidents/*statistics & numerical data
Adolescent
Adult
Age Factors
Aged
Child
Child, Preschool
Female
Humans
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Korea/epidemiology
Male
Middle Aged
Residence Characteristics
Sex Factors
Socioeconomic Factors
Trauma Severity Indices
Wounds and Injuries/classification/*epidemiology