Injury pyramid of unintentional injuries according to sex and age in South Korea

OBJECTIVE: The injury-related disease burden in South Korea is relatively high compared to that in other nations. This study was conducted to identify the scale and causes of injury by severity, using an injury pyramid and analyzing the sex and age-dependent differences and the basic demographic characteristics. METHODS: Unintentional injury was estimated for each group after classifying injury-related deaths, hospitalizations, and outpatient department (OPD) visits based on their severity. The injury pyramid was calculated by classifying the injury outcomes into deaths, hospitalizations, and outpatient visits. RESULTS: The incidence of unintentional injury included 31.74 deaths, 1,715.27 hospitalizations, and 7,317.55 OPD visits per 100,000 persons. The incidence of injury was higher among males than that among females. There were more hospitalizations and OPD visits than deaths among females. The mortality and hospitalization rates due to injury per 100,000 persons were the highest among those ≥75 years old, and the OPD visit rate was the highest among preschool children aged 0 to 6 years. The injury mechanisms that caused most deaths and hospitalizations in South Korea were injuries related to traffic, falls, poisoning, and burns/fires. CONCLUSION: The scale of unintentional injury varies based on sex, age, and injury mechanism; additionally there are differences in the incidence of injuries between males and females depending on their age and injury mechanism. The high incidence of injury in elderly people could be a factor that increases the burden of injury in South Korea; hence, it is necessary to develop an injury prevention program that targets the elderly.

The Pyramid of Injury: Estimation of the Scale of Adolescent Injuries According to Severity / 예방의학회지

OBJECTIVES: Due to their developmental characteristics, adolescents have a higher probability than other age groups of experiencing injuries caused by accidents, violence, and intentional self-harm. The severity and characteristics of injuries vary by the intentionality and mechanism of injury; therefore, there is a need for a national-level estimate of the scale and the severity of injuries in adolescents that takes these factors into account. METHODS: By using data from the Emergency Department-based Injury In-depth Surveillance Data, National Emergency Department Information System, the Korean National Hospital Discharge In-depth Injury Survey, and cause of death statistics, we calculated the emergency department (ED) visit rate, hospitalization rate, and death rate of injuries per 100 000 adolescents for each injury mechanism. The calculated rates were used to generate the injury pyramid ratio (ratio of death rate to hospitalization rate to ED visit rate) to visualize the scale and the severity of the injury. RESULTS: The mortality rate in adolescents due to injury was 10/100 000; the corresponding rates for hospitalization and ED visits were 1623 and 4923, respectively, resulting in an injury pyramid ratio with the general pyramid form, with a 1:162:492 ratio of deaths to hospitalizations to ED visits. The mortality rate due to suicide/intentional self-harm was 5/100 000, while 35 were hospitalized for this reason and 74 made ED visits. The pyramid ratio of 1:7:15 for intentional self-harm/suicide showed a steep pyramidal form, indicating considerable lethality. The mortality rate due to motor vehicle collisions (MVCs) was 3/100 000; 586 were hospitalized for this reason, while 1023 made ED visits. The pyramid ratio of 1:195:341 for MVCs showed a gradual pyramid form, indicating that the lethality was low and the scale of injury was high. CONCLUSIONS: The main categories of injuries in adolescents were visualized in pyramid form, contributing to an understanding of the scale of each injury by mechanism in terms of levels of death, hospitalization, and ED visits. These findings will be helpful for understanding how to prioritize injuries in adolescents.