Citation

Tan NC, Ang A, Heng D, Chen J, Wong HB. Asia Pac. J. Public Health 2007; 19(1): 18-27.

Affiliation

SingHealth Polyclinics, Singapore. Tan.Ngiap.Chuan@singhealth.com.sg

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, Asia-Pacific Academic Consortium for Public Health, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

17784655

Abstract

The survey is aimed to describe the epidemiology of playground related injuries in Singapore based on the ICD-9, AIS/ ISS and PTS scoring systems, and mechanisms and causes of such injuries according to E codes and ICECI codes. A cross-sectional questionnaire survey examined children (< 16 years old), who sought treatment for or died of unintentional injuries in the ED of three hospitals, two primary care centers and the sole Forensic Medicine Department of Singapore. A data dictionary was compiled using guidelines from CDC/WHO. The ISS, AIS and PTS, ICD-9, ICECI v1 and E codes were used to describe the details of the injuries. 19,094 childhood injuries were recorded in the database, of which 1617 were playground injuries (8.5%). The injured children (mean age=6.8 years, SD 2.9 years) were predominantly male (M:F ratio = 1.71:1). Falls were the most frequent in-juries (70.7%) using ICECI. 25.0% of injuries involved radial and ulnar fractures (ICD-9 code). 99.4% of these injuries were minor, with PTS scores of 9-12. Children aged 6-10 years, were prone to upper limb injuries (71.1%) based on AIS. The use of international coding systems in injury surveillance facilitated standardization of description and comparison of playground injuries.

Language: en