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ICD 10 injury diagnosis matrix: Grouping S and T codes by body region and nature of injury

Paul R. Jones, MA1, Bruce A. Lawrence, PhD1, and Lois A Fingerhut, MA2. (1) Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, 11710 Beltsville Drive, Suite 300, Calverton, MD 20705-3102, 301-755-2708, jones@pire.org, (2) NCHS, 6525 Belcrest Road, Rm 750, Hyattsville, MD 20782

Introduction: For injury research, one of the most useful tools has been the Barell Matrix (Barell et al., 2001), which categorizes ICD 9 CM injury diagnoses by body region and nature of injury. A successor to the Barell Matrix for use with ICD 10 would be a new tool to aid researchers and policymakers. Methods: The ICD 10 injury diagnosis matrix classifies all S and T codes by body region and nature of injury. We translated the matrix into a SAS algorithm and attempted to validate the algorithm by testing it against the 2000 Multiple Cause of Death (MCOD) data, which are coded using ICD 10. We selected only records containing an injury diagnosis (i.e., an S or T code) and then selected the injury diagnosis assigned by the death certificate as the earliest link in the chain of causes leading to death. We then ran this classifying diagnosis (DX0) through our algorithm. Results: The SAS program successfully assigned a body region and nature of injury to every value of DX0 that occurred in the 2000 MCOD. Five cells in the matrix accounted for 49% of all injuries. Conclusion: This new injury diagnosis matrix and the SAS algorithm that embodies it constitute a useful tool for the description and analysis of injury data. The matrix will serve as an initial injury classification benchmark during the conversion to ICD 10 (and, later, ICD 10 CM). The algorithm proved robust against a large mortality dataset, but it should be validated against other datasets before being widely circulated.

Learning Objectives:

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Unique Methodology and Survellience Poster Session

The 132nd Annual Meeting (November 6-10, 2004) of APHA