injuries during the covid-19 pandemic€¦ · ed presentations in victoria decreased from 156,708...
TRANSCRIPT
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THE FOLLOWING HAS BEEN PREPARED BY THE VICTORIAN INJURY SURVEILLANCE UNIT (VISU)
MONASH UNIVERSITY ACCIDENT RESEARCH CENTRE (MUARC)
MONTHLY BULLETIN – EDITION 3: MAY SUMMARY
INJURIES DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Monthly Bulletin – Edition 3
Large ED reductions noted for injuries in:
1. Athletics & sports areas (↓94%)
2. Schools, daycare centres & public administration areas (↓86%)
ED presentations overall were 24%
lower in May 2020 compared to May
2019
ED presentations for respiratory disease were
63% lower
Home injury ED presentations
increased: May 2020 (n=12,265) vs May 2019 (n=10,105);
proportional to ED caseload,
unintentional home injury ED
presentations went up by 56% in May 2020
Injury and poisoning-related ED presentations overall were 26% lower in May 2020 compared to May
2019
DIY (Do-It-Yourself) ED presentations increased in May
2020 (n=343) compared to May 2019 (n=194); 65% were males aged
25-64 years
Farm injury ED presentations
increased in May 2020 (n=294)
compared to May 2019 (n=239), as well as injuries proportional to
ED caseload
Transport injury ED presentations
decreased slightly: May 2020 (n=1669) vs May
2019 (n=1766); proportional to ED
caseload, injuries went up 22%. Cycling ED
presentations increased (May 2020: n=576 vs
May 2019: n=371)
Assault injury (in the home) ED presentations
increased in May 2020 (n=175) vs
May 2019 (n=118); proportional to ED
caseload, home assault injury
increased by 91%
Self-harm injury ED presentations were
slightly lower in May 2020 (n=719) vs May
2019 (n=773); proportional to
caseload, self-harm injury increased by 22%.
Common mechanism was poisoning/toxic
effects.
Given the overall reduction in health service use through the ED
in May 2020 compared to May 2019, the number of injuries presented in this bulletin are likely to represent a smaller
proportion of total injuries than in the previous year
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BACKGROUND
In response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, Australia, including Victoria, has
implemented physical distancing to limit transmission of the coronavirus. This monthly
bulletin monitors injury rates related to the home (including DIY injuries), farm, transport,
self-harm and assault during the COVID-19 pandemic. This bulletin is a special VISU
initiative, in addition to the usual annual reporting; VISU intends to produce these reports
throughout the duration of the pandemic. This third edition of the bulletin examines rates in
Victoria during May 2020 relative to the same time last year.
METHOD
Data used to compile this bulletin were extracted from the Victorian Emergency Minimum
Dataset (VEMD), which holds deidentified clinical records of presentations at Victorian public
hospitals with designated 24-hour emergency departments (EDs) (currently 38 hospitals).
ED presentations from 1 May 2019 to 31 May 2020 were analysed for this bulletin. A detailed
outline of the methods used for case selection are provided in the Appendix section of this
report. For more information on methods used by the Victorian Injury Surveillance Unit see
here and background information and pre-COVID statistics see here.
KEY INJURY GROUPS
HOME DIY FARM TRANSPORT SELF-HARM ASSAULT (home)
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ED HEALTH SERVICE UTILISATION BEFORE THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC AND DURING THE THIRD MONTH OF RESTRICTIONS
ED presentations in Victoria decreased from 156,708 ED presentations in May 2019 to 118,793 in May 2020: a 24% reduction. This should be seen in context of a steady growth in ED presentations (3.6% per year), which was observed in recent years in Victoria. Age standardised rates were 28,048 per 100,000 population per year in May 2019 vs 20,980 per 100,000 population per year in May 2020.
Data selection methods are explained in the Appendix section.
EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT HEALTH SERVICE UTILISATION, VICTORIA, MAY 2019 COMPARED WITH MAY 2020
Respiratory illness or virus-related ED presentations:
• Viral infection, unspecified: 4,548 vs 1,638 (May 2019 vs May 2020)
• Upper respiratory infection, unspecified: 1,668 vs 639 (May 2019 vs May 2020)
• Pneumonia (broncho- or lobar): 1,259 vs 723 (May 2019 vs May 2020)
• Asthma: 1,785 vs 586 (May 2019 vs May 2020)
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
120000
140000
160000
180000
May19 Jun19 Jul19 Aug19 Sep19 Oct19 Nov19 Dec19 Jan20 Feb20 Mar20 Apr20 May20
ED P
RES
ENTA
TIO
NS
ED Presentations by Triage Status in Victoria, May 2019 to May 2020
Resuscitation Emergency Urgent Semi urgent Non urgent
CONTEXT: OVERALL EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT PRESENTATIONS (MAY 2019 – MAY 2020)
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Common ED presentations not related to viral or respiratory illness
• Syncope/collapse: 1,869 vs 1,435 (May 2019 vs May 2020)
• Urinary tract infection: 1,690 vs 1,405 (May 2019 vs May 2020)
• Abdominal pain, unspecified: 6,586 vs 5,982 (May 2019 vs May 2020)
Potentially life-threatening presentations not related to viral or respiratory
illness
• Myocardial infarction: 721 vs 613 (May 2019 vs May 2020)
• Angina pectoris: 398 vs 318 (May 2019 vs May 2020)
• Stroke: 858 vs 693 (May 2019 vs May 2020)
• Pulmonary embolism: 197 vs 190 (May 2019 vs May 2020)
• Appendicitis: 715 vs 596 (May 2919 vs May 2020)
-4675
-216
-273
+196
-404
-497
-549
-876
-8099
-712
-1231
-1722
-719
-440
-3783
-9302-697
1198
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000
Infectious diseases
Blood and immune system diseases
Endocrine diseases
Mental disorders
Nervous system diseases
Eye diseases
Ear and mastoid diseases
Circulatory system diseases
Respiratory system diseases
Digestive system diseases
Skin diseases
Musculoskeletal system diseases
Genitourinary system diseases
Pregnancyand childbirth
Symptoms and signs
Injury and poisoning
Factors influencing health status
Special codes
ED PRESENTATIONS
ED Presentations by Disease Type (ICD-10-AM) in Victoria, May 2019 vs May 2020
May-19 May-20
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SUMMARY: EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT HEALTH SERVICE USE FINDINGS (VIC)
ED presentations overall decreased by 24% from 156,708 in May 2019 to
118,793 in May 2020
In May 2020, ED service use for respiratory diseases overall was 63% lower compared to May 2019: upper respiratory infecion (↓62%), asthma
(↓67%) and pneumonia (↓43%)
In May 2020, ED presentations for potentially life-threatening conditions
such as myocardial infarction/heart attack (↓15%) and stroke (↓19%)
were reduced compared to May 2019
ED presentations for injury & poisoning was 26% lower in May 2020
compared to May 2019
Major reductions in injury & poisoning cases occurred in:
- Athletics & sports areas (↓94%)
- School, daycare centres & public administration areas (↓86%)
Increases in injury and poisoning cases occurred in:
- Home locations (↑21%)
- Farm locations (↑23%)
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THIS SUGGESTS THAT IN MAY 2020:
-4104-72
+57
+2388
-105
-106
-298
-956
-545
-2037-394
-2998
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000
Athletics and sports area
Industrial or construction area
Farm
Home
Residential institution
Medical hospital
Other specified place, incl Mine or quarry
Place for recreation
Road, street or highway
School, day care centre, public admin
Trade or service area
Unspecified place
ED PRESENTATIONS
Injury & Poisoning ED Presentations by Place of Occurrence in Victoria, May 2019 vs May 2020
May-19 May-20
The reduction in ED presentations potentially indicates missed opportunities for early treatment and intervention
Physical distancing measures may have reduced transmission of the common cold and flu virus; whether this is the case, and to what extent this has affected rates of respiratory illness in Victoria, needs further investigation
Non-urgent health issues may have been presented to the GP or Nurse on Call instead of the ED; this needs to be investigated further to identify potential gaps in service utilisation during the pandemic
Differences in exposure in May 2020 compared to this period in 2019, in particular more time spent at home and less time spent in school and sporting areas, has had a pronounced effect on the profile of injuries presented to the ED
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• The total number of unintentional home injuries increased in May 2020 compared to May 2019; this increase was observed both in the number of ED presentations as well as in the number of cases proportional to ED caseload (including only cases that were not directly or indirectly related to viral or respiratory illness).
• Given the overall reduction in health service utilisation through the ED (for non-viral or respiratory illness issues) in May 2020 vs May 2019, the number of home injuries presented in this bulletin are likely to represent a smaller proportion of total injuries than in the previous year.
• Both in May 2019 and in May 2020, falls were the most common cause of unintentional home injury.
• Open wounds and fractures were the most common injury types, both in May 2019 and May 2020.
Data selection methods are explained in the Appendix section.
May 2019 May 2020
Triage status Injury cases
ED Presentations*
Ratio Injury cases
ED Presentations*
Ratio Change in case
numbers
Change in ratios
Resuscitation 13 390 0.033 43 350 0.123 +231% +269%
Emergency 618 7246 0.085 773 6453 0.120 +25% +40%
Urgent 2762 24431 0.113 3417 20363 0.168 +24% +48%
Semi-urgent 5474 25932 0.211 6644 18577 0.358 +21% +69%
Non-urgent 1238 4725 0.262 1388 3043 0.456 +12% +74%
Total 10105 62724 0.161 12265 48786 0.251 +21% +56%
*For VEMD caseload calculations, only ED presentations that were considered unlikely to be directly or indirectly related to the pandemic were included. (See Appendix for details).
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
ED P
RES
ENTA
TIO
NS
ED Presentations by Triage Status for Home Injury in Victoria, May 2019 to May 2020
Resuscitation Emergency Urgent Semi urgent Non urgent
Unintentional Home Injury
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0-14years
15-24years
25-64years
65+years
May-19 1837 526 1941 917
May-20 2273 643 2519 1037
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
ED P
rese
nta
tio
ns
Unintentional Home Injury: Males
0-14years
15-24years
25-64years
65+years
May-19 1491 427 1721 1245
May-20 1781 535 2215 1262
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
ED P
rese
nta
tio
ns
Unintentional Home Injury: Females
+548
+277
+321
+372
+252
+41
+87
+99
+3
+122
+39
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500 5000
Fall
Hit/struck/crush
Other specified unintentional
Cutting/piercing
Foreign body - natural orifice
Unspecified unintentional
Fires/burns/scalds
Natural/environmental/animals
Poisoning
Transport
Machinery
ED Presentations
Unintentional Home Injury: Cause Groups
May-19
May-20
+641
+371
+104
+304
+74
+243
+63
+89
+62
+44
+95
+28
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
Open wound
Fracture
Dislocation, sprain & strain
Other & unspecified injury
Superficial injury
Foreign body
Injury to muscle & tendon
Burns
Intracranial injury
Poisoning or toxic effects
Eye injury- excl foreign body
Crushing injury
ED Presentations
Unintentional Home Injury: Twelve Most Common Injury Types
May-19
May-20
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DO-IT-YOURSELF (DIY) INJURY PRESENTATIONS TO THE ED
• Do-it-yourself injury case selection is based on text analysis of ED narrative information, and subject to data quality. Given these methodological limitations, the number of DIY injuries are likely to be underestimated by these statistics.
• The figure below lists the range of DIY injuries presenting to the ED in May 2020 compared with May 2019. There was an increase in DIY injuries (mostly superficial injuries, injury to muscle or tendon, open wounds, foreign body and eye injury) presenting to the ED from 194 in May 2019 to 343 in May 2020 (77% increase).
• The majority (65%) were males aged 25-64 years.
DIY case selection methods are explained in the Appendix section. Ladder falls (specifically) are not included as they were not in the top ten most common DIY injury causes.
+51
+17
+24
+18
+8
+11
+2
+7
+5
+3
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Contact with powered grinder
Contact with powered saw
Contact with chainsaw
Contact with powered drill
Contact with powered lawn mower
Contact with welding equipment
Contact with…
Fall from tree/cutting/removing tree
Contact with hand/table saw
Contact with powered nail gun
ED PRESENTATIONS
Unintentional Home Injury: Ten Most Common DIY Injury Causes
May-19 May-20
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• The total number of unintentional farm injuries was slightly higher in May 2020 than in May 2019; proportional to ED caseload (including only cases that were not directly or indirectly related to viral or respiratory illness), ED presentations for unintentional farm injury increased.
• The numbers of farm injuries increased in all triage groups.
• Given the overall reduction in health service utilisation through the ED (for non-viral or respiratory illness issues) in May 2020 vs May 2019, the number of farm injuries presented in this bulletin are likely to represent a smaller proportion of total injuries than in the previous year.
May 2019 May 2020
Triage status Injury cases
ED Presentations*
Ratio Injury cases
ED Presentations*
Ratio Change in case
numbers
Change in
ratios
Resuscitation, Emergency
39 7636 0.005 49 6803 0.007 +26% +41%
Urgent 61 24431 0.002 88 20363 0.004 +44% +73%
Semi-urgent 121 25932 0.005 133 18577 0.007 +10% +53%
Non-urgent 18 4725 0.004 24 3043 0.008 +33% +107%
Total 239 62724 0.004 294 48786 0.006 +23% +58%
*For VEMD caseload calculations, only ED presentations that were considered unlikely to be directly or indirectly related to the pandemic were included. (See Appendix for details).
Farm Injury
0-14years
15-24years
25-64years
65+years
May-19 13 23 85 32
May-20 25 32 102 27
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
ED P
rese
nta
tio
ns
Unintentional Farm Injury: Males
0-14years
15-24years
25-64years
65+years
May-19 6 24 45 11
May-20 18 20 53 17
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
ED P
rese
nta
tio
ns
Unintentional Farm Injury: Females
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• The total number of ED presentations for transport injury was lower in May 2020 than in May 2019. Proportional to ED caseload (including only cases that were not directly or indirectly related to viral or respiratory illness issues), however, transport injury presentations increased.
• Given the overall reduction in health service utilisation through the ED (for non-viral or respiratory illness issues) in May 2020 vs May 2019, the number of transport injuries presented in this bulletin are likely to represent a smaller proportion of total injuries than in the previous year.
• The decrease in the number of transport injury-related ED presentations was observed in all adult age groups, for males and females, but not among children aged 14 years or younger: in this age group, the number of cases increased by 78% (May 2020 compared to May 2019).
• Pedal cyclist injuries increased in May 2020 compared to May 2019; this was observed in the number of ED presentations as well as relative to ED caseload. This is in the context of an observed concomitant decrease in injuries among other road users.
Data selection methods are explained in the Appendix section.
May 2019 May 2020 Triage status Injury
cases ED
Presentations* Ratio Injury
cases ED
Presentations* Ratio Change
in case numbers
Change in ratios
Resuscitation 30 390 0.077 30 350 0.086 0% +11%
Emergency 455 7246 0.063 421 6453 0.065 -7% +4%
Urgent 731 24431 0.030 677 20363 0.033 -7% +11%
Semi-urgent 501 25932 0.019 477 18577 0.026 -5% +33%
Non-urgent 49 4725 0.010 64 3043 0.021 +31% +103%
Total 1766 62724 0.028 1669 48786 0.034 -5% +22%
*For VEMD caseload calculations, only ED presentations that were considered unlikely to be directly or indirectly related to the pandemic were included. (See Appendix for details).
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
ED P
RES
ENTA
TIO
NS
ED Presentations by Triage Status for Transport Injury in Victoria, May 2019 to May 2020
Resuscitation Emergency Urgent Semi urgent Non urgent
Transport Injury
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0-14years
15-24years
25-64years
65+years
May-19 141 258 644 99
May-20 259 238 596 81
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
ED P
rese
nta
tio
ns
Transport Injury: Males
0-14years
15-24years
25-64years
65+years
May-19 54 132 363 75
May-20 88 89 267 51
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
ED P
rese
nta
tio
ns
Transport Injury: Females
-177
+205
-14
-75
-31
+5
-10
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
Motor vehicle - driver
Pedal cyclist - rider/passenger
Motorcycle - driver
Motor vehicle - passenger
Pedestrian
Other transport-relatedcircumstance
Motorcycle - passenger
ED Presentations
Transport Injury: Cause Groups
May-19
May-20
+15
+23
-88
-71
+28
-7
+4
+3
0
-1
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
Other & unspecified injury
Fracture
Dislocation, sprain & strain
Superficial injury
Open wound
Injury to muscle & tendon
Intracranial injury
Crushing injury
Injury to internal organs
Injury to nerves & spinal cord
ED Presentations
Transport Injury: Ten Most Common Injury Types
May-19
May-20
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• All self-harm injury presentations to the ED were included; this analysis was not limited to those that occurred in the home.
• The total number of ED presentations for self-harm injury was lower in May 2020 than in May 2019; however, proportional to ED caseload (including only cases that were not directly or indirectly related to viral or respiratory illness), ED presentations for self-harm increased.
• Given the overall reduction in health service utilisation through the ED (for non-viral or respiratory illness issues) in May 2020 vs May 2019, the number of self-harm injuries presented in this bulletin are likely to represent a smaller proportion of total injuries than in the previous year.
• At both timepoints, the most common injury type was poisoning or toxic effects.
Data selection methods are explained in the Appendix section.
May 2019 May 2020
Triage status Injury cases
ED Presentations*
Ratio Injury cases
ED Presentations*
Ratio Change in case
numbers
Change in ratios
Resuscitation 22 390 0.056 27 350 0.077 +23% +37%
Emergency 211 7246 0.029 206 6453 0.032 -2% +10%
Urgent 386 24431 0.016 374 20363 0.018 -3% +16%
Semi-urgent 138 25932 0.005 104 18577 0.006 -25% +5%
Non-urgent 16 4725 0.003 8 3043 0.003 -50% -22%
Total 773 62724 0.012 719 48786 0.015 -7% +20%
*For VEMD caseload calculations, only ED presentations that were considered unlikely to be directly or indirectly related to the pandemic were included. (See Appendix for details).
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
ED P
RES
ENTA
TIO
NS
ED Presentations by Triage Status for Self -Harm Injury in Victoria, May 2019 to May 2020
Resuscitation Emergency Urgent Semi urgent Non urgent
Self-Harm Injury
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0-24 years 25+years
May-19 102 166
May-20 115 148
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
ED P
rese
nta
tio
ns
Self-Harm injury: Males
0-24 years 25+years
May-19 271 229
May-20 236 218
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
ED P
rese
nta
tio
ns
Self-Harm Injury: Females
-19
-5
3
-13
-10
-8
+5
0 100 200 300 400 500
Poisoning or toxic effects
Open wound
Superficial injury
Other & unspecified injury
Fracture
Dislocation, sprain & strain
Foreign body
ED Presentations
Self-Harm Injury: Seven Most Common Injury Types
May-19
May-20
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• The total number of ED presentations for assault-related injury that occurred in the home was higher in May 2020 than in May 2019; this increase was also observed in the number of cases proportional to ED caseload (including only cases that were not directly or indirectly related to viral or respiratory illness).
• Given the overall reduction in health service utilisation through the ED (for non-viral or respiratory illness issues) in May 2020 vs May 2019, the number of assault-related home injuries presented in this bulletin are likely to represent a smaller proportion of total injuries than in the previous year.
• The increase from May 2019 to May 2020 was observed among males and females, in both age groups (0-24 years; 25+ years).
Data selection methods are explained in the Appendix section.
May 2019 May 2020
Triage status Injury cases
ED Presentations*
Ratio Injury cases
ED Presentations*
Ratio Change in case
numbers
Change in ratios
Resuscitation, Emergency
11 7636 0.0014 18 6803 0.0026 +64% +84%
Urgent 49 24431 0.0020 87 20363 0.0043 +78% +113%
Semi-urgent, non-urgent
58 30657 0.0019 70 21620 0.0032 +21% +71%
Total 118 62724 0.0019 175 48786 0.0036 +48% +91%
*For VEMD caseload calculations, only ED presentations that were considered unlikely to be directly or indirectly related to the pandemic were included. (See Appendix for details).
0
50
100
150
200
250
ED P
RES
ENTA
TIO
NS
ED Presentations by Triage Status for Assault -Related Home Injury in Victoria, May 2019 to May 2020
Resuscitation Emergency Urgent Semi urgent Non urgent
Assault Injury (Home only)
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0-24 years 25+years
May-19 16 37
May-20 18 69
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
ED P
rese
nta
tio
ns
Assault-Related Home Injury: Males
0-24 years 25+years
May-19 14 51
May-20 25 63
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
ED P
rese
nta
tio
ns
Assault-Related Home Injury: Females
29
+7
+4
+11
-2
+3
0 10 20 30 40 50
Other & unspecified injury
Open wound
Superficial injury
Fracture
Dislocation, sprain & strain
Intracranial injury
ED Presentations
Assault-Related Home Injury: Six Most Common Injury Types
May-19 May-20
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METHODS
Data from May 2019 to May 2020 from the Victorian Emergency Minimum Dataset (VEMD), which holds deidentified clinical records of presentations at Victorian public hospitals with designated 24-hour emergency departments, were used to compile this bulletin.
The focus of this Ebulletin is on the latest available data (May 2020) to show the changes in injury profiles since the coronavirus pandemic; data from the same month last year (May 2019) are used as comparison.
The changes in injury-related ED presentations are calculated proportional to other ED presentations that are unlikely to be directly affected by the pandemic. This is to account for health service attendance level changes.
EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT HEALTH SERVICE UTILISATION
ED presentations overall (not limited to injury) were selected to generate statistics on health service use overall during the May 2019 to May 2020 period. Only ED presentations that were ‘emergency presentations’ were included: this excludes planned return visits, pre-arranged admissions and those who were dead on arrival. Rates per 100,000 population were calculated; the denominators used for calculating rates were September 2019 population estimates from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
For comparisons between May 2019 and May 2020, September 2018 and September 2019 population data were used, respectively, as these were the most recent available data with 12 months in between. Age standardisation of rates was carried out using 5-year age groups and the direct method. The standard population used was the Victorian resident population at 30 June, 2001.
For VEMD caseload calculations, only ED presentations that were considered unlikely to be directly or indirectly related to the pandemic were included:
ED presentations with a first diagnosis code in:
• Certain infectious and parasitic diseases (a00-a99; all b codes excluded)
• Neoplasms (c00–d48);
• Diseases of the blood and blood-forming organs and certain disorders involving the immune mechanism (d50–d89);
• Endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases (e00–e89);
• Mental and behavioural disorders (f00–f99);
• Diseases of the nervous system (g00–g99);
• Diseases of the eye and adnexa (h00–h59);
• Diseases of the ear and mastoid process (h60–h95);
• Diseases of the circulatory system (i00–i99);
• Diseases of the digestive system (k00–k93);
• Diseases of the skin and subcutaneous tissue (l00–l99);
• Diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue (m00–m99);
• Diseases of the genitourinary system (n00–n99);
• Pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium (o00–o99);
• Certain conditions originating in the perinatal period (p00–p96);
• Congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities (q00–q99).
Appendix
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INJURY CASE SELECTION
ED presentations related to injury were selected only if the first occurring diagnosis code was a community injury (i.e., an ICD-10-AM code in the range of “S00” - “T75” or “T79”); this does not include medical injuries. Episode selection was limited to incidents (i.e., excludes return visits, pre-arranged admissions). For more information on methods used by the Victorian Injury Surveillance Unit see here and background information and pre-COVID statistics see here.
Unintentional injury cases were those with a ‘Human intent’ code “1” (non-intentional harm). Unintentional home injury cases were unintentional injury cases with a ‘Place where injury occurred’ code “H” (Home). Do-It-Yourself (DIY) injuries were extracted from unintentional home injury cases if the ‘Description of injury event’ variable, which is a short narrative of the incident, mentioned terms relevant to DIY injuries. Examples of terms were those related to the use of power tools (grinders, saws, drills), lawn mowers, hand or table saws, ladders, welding equipment, nail guns or phrase indicating falls from roofs and trees. Cases with an “Activity when injured” code “W” (Working for income) were excluded. Unintentional farm injuries were unintentional injury cases with a ‘Place where injury occurred’ code “F” (Farm). Transport injury cases were those with ‘Injury cause’ codes “1” through “8” (related to motor vehicle occupants, motor cyclists, pedal cyclists, pedestrians and other transport related circumstances), excluding “7” (Horse related (fall from, struck or bitten by)). Self-harm injury cases were those with a ‘Human intent’ code “2” (intentional self-harm code for ED presentations in the 2018/19 financial year) and “18” through “20” (intentional self-harm codes for ED presentations in the 2019/20 financial year). Assault injury cases were those with ‘Human intent’ codes “12” through “17” (codes related to sexual assaults, and neglect/maltreatment/assaults, by a current or former intimate partner, other family member or other/unknown persons). Additional cases were selected if the ‘Description of injury event’ text field contained terms such as “domestic”, “home” appearing with terms such as “violence”, “hit” etc., and “assault”, “hit”, “struck”, “punch” and other similar terms appearing with terms such as “partner”, “spouse” and other terms for family members. Cases selected using text searches were manually checked for relevance. Assault cases were contained to those with a ‘Place where injury occurred’ code “H” (Home).
CONTACT VISU AT:
MUARC - Monash University Accident Research Centre
Building 70, 21 Alliance Lane
Monash University
Clayton Campus
Victoria, 3800
Phone: (03) 9905 1805
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.monash.edu/muarc/visu
The Victorian Injury Surveillance Unit (VISU) is a unit within the Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC). VISU is supported by the Victorian Government.