[Patterns of unintentional domestic injuries in Korea].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the patterns of unintentional home injuries in Korea.


METHODS
The study population was 12,382,088 people who utilized National Health Insurance services due to injuries (main diagnosis codes S00 to T28) during 2006. Stratified samples(n=459,501) were randomly selected by sex, age group and severity of injury. A questionnaire was developed based on the International Classification of External Causes of Injury and 18,000 cases surveyed by telephone were analyzed after being projected into population proportionately according to the response rates of their strata. Domestic injury cases were finally included.


RESULTS
Domestic injuries (n=3,804) comprised 21.1% of total daily life injuries during 2006. Women were vulnerable to home injuries, with the elderly and those of lower income (medical-aid users) tending to suffer more severe injuries. Injury occurred most often due to a slipping fall (33.9%), overexertion (15.3%), falling (9.5%) and stumbling (9.4%), with severe injury most often resulting from slipping falls, falls and stumbles. Increasing age correlated with domestic injury-related disability.


CONCLUSIONS
The present findings provide basic information for development of home injury prevention strategies, with focus on the elderly.
Lee
Eun Jung
EJ
Department of Health Policy and Management, Medical Research Center, Seoul National University, Korea.
Lee
Jin Seok
JS
Kim
Yoon
Y
Park
Kunhee
K
Eun
Sang Jun
SJ
Suh
Soo Kyung
SK
Kim
Yong Ik
YI
D000058:Accidental Falls; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D015599:Trauma Severity Indices; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D055815:Young Adult