title: Non-fatal injuries treated outside a hospital in Hunan, China: results from a household interview survey.
abstract: Injury morbidity data are collected through hospital-based surveillance in many countries. We assessed the extent of non-fatal injures treated outside a hospital.
  
  
  
  Data from the first provincial health household interview survey of Hunan, China, conducted in 2013, were used. Injury events were identified and included as medically significant when any of the following circumstances occurred in the prior 14 days: (i) receiving medical treatment from a doctor at a hospital following an injury; (ii) receiving medical treatment by self or others outside a hospital following an injury (e.g. taking medications, or receiving massage or hot compress); and/or (iii) being off work or school, or in bed for more than 1 day, following an injury. The 2-week prevalence of non-fatal injuries and 95% confidence intervals were calculated. We calculated the proportion of injury events treated outside a hospital and the reasons for not visiting a hospital for injury events occurring during the previous 2 weeks.
  
  
  
  We captured 56 injury events during the previous 2 weeks. The weighted injury prevalence was 4.9 per 1000 persons during the last 2 weeks (95% confidence interval: 2.9-6.9 per 1000 persons). Of the 56 events, 14 (weighted proportion 41.2%) were treated outside a hospital. Primary explanations for skipping hospital visits included perceiving injuries were too minor and economic limitations to travel to hospitals or seek treatment.
  
  
  
  Results imply the burden of non-fatal injury may be underestimated by hospital-based surveillance systems such as that used in China.
authors: Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, China.
authors: Yue
authors: Y
authors: Wu
authors: Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, China.
authors: Wei
authors: W
authors: Zhang
authors: Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, China.
authors: Lin
authors: L
authors: Zhang
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, USA.
authors: David C
authors: DC
authors: Schwebel
authors: Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, China.
authors: Peishan
authors: P
authors: Ning
authors: Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, China.
authors: Xunjie
authors: X
authors: Cheng
authors: Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, China.
authors: Xin
authors: X
authors: Deng
authors: Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, China.
authors: Li
authors: L
authors: Li
authors: Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, China.
authors: Jing
authors: J
authors: Deng
authors: Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, China.
authors: Guoqing
authors: G
authors: Hu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012648:Self Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000628:therapy*; D055815:Young Adult