Mortality due to injuries by place of occurrence in the European region: analysis of data quality in the WHO mortality database.
OBJECTIVE
The 10th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) has codes for the place of occurrence of external causes of mortality. The purpose of this study was to investigate the quality of data available in the World Health Organization (WHO) mortality database on the place of occurrence of fatal injuries in the European region.


METHODS
Data on external causes of mortality from countries in the European region according to the ICD-10 with four-character subdivision, between the years 1998 and 2003, were analysed. The quality of ICD-10 place of occurrence data was analysed for each country, based on the completeness, coverage and percentage of unspecified place of injury occurrence.


RESULTS
Only three countries in the European region (Hungary, Iceland and Lithuania) had high quality of data on place of occurrence of injuries, and six had medium-quality data.


CONCLUSIONS
Few countries in the European region have injury mortality data of adequate quality by place of occurrence.
Suárez-García
I
I
Department of Internal Medicine, Hospital Infanta Sofía, Paseo de Europa 34, 28702 San Sebastián de los Reyes, Madrid, Spain. inessuarez@hotmail.com
Sethi
D
D
Hutchings
A
A
D016208:Databases, Factual; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D038801:International Classification of Diseases; D012307:Risk Factors; D014944:World Health Organization; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality*