Attendance for injury at accident and emergency departments in London: a cross-sectional study.
OBJECTIVE
In order to set the foundation for the possible development of injury surveillance initiatives in north-west London, data on all presentations during 2002 at the nine accident and emergency departments (AEDs) in the relevant strategic health authority were examined.


METHODS
Descriptive, cross-sectional study.


METHODS
A search algorithm was devised to extract records pertaining to injury presentations. The results were validated against a manually checked sample. Descriptive, quantitative analyses were performed.


RESULTS
Only four of the nine hospitals in the study area routinely recorded data in a form useful for research on injury. In these four hospitals, presentations with injury accounted for 29.7% of total attendances at the AED, which is markedly lower than the national average.


CONCLUSIONS
Certain characteristics of London regarding provision of primary care may explain why attendances for injury are proportionately low. However, the unusual pattern also underlines the importance of improving the quality of AED data in order to support adequate local surveillance of injury as the basis of efforts to prevent such incidents and to plan services to deal with injuries.
Jamrozik
Konrad
K
School of Population Health, University of Queensland, Herston Road, Herston, Queensland 4006, Australia.
Samarasundera
Edgar
E
Miracle
Rebekah
R
Blair
Mitch
M
Sethi
Dinesh
D
Saxena
Sonia
S
Bowen
Simon
S
D000059:Accidents / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008131:London / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012621:Seasons; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D055815:Young Adult