Objective-The research was undertaken to describe the injury severity score (ISS) and the new injury severity score (NISS) and to illustrate their statistical properties. Design-Descriptive analysis and assessment of the distribution of these scales. Methods-Three data sources-the National Pediatric Trauma Registry; the Massachusetts Uniform Hospital Discharge Data Set; and a trauma registry from an urban level I trauma center in Massachusetts-were used to describe the distribution of the ISS and NISS among injured patients. Results-The ISS/NISS was found to have a positively skewed distribution and transformation did not improve their skewness.Conclusion-The findings suggest that for statistical or analytical purposes the ISS/ NISS should not be considered a continuous variable, particularly if ISS/NISS is treated as a continuous variable for correlation with an outcome measure. (Injury Prevention 2001;7:10-13)

No abstract

This study examines the causes and outcomes of injuries occurring at school and highlights the need for injury prevention strategies. Descriptive statistics were applied to data from a national pediatric trauma database on 1,558 K-12 graders injured at school severely enough to require hospitalization. Factors analyzed included age, gender, cause, place, time, injured body regions, use of hospital resources, in-hospital fatality rate, and functional limitations. Most injuries were unintentional (89.7%) and occurred mostly to children 10-14 years old. Almost half occurred in recreational areas. Falls and sports were the most frequent causes, but the pattern varied by grade and gender. Most children sustained injuries to the extremities (41.3%) or to the head (39.2%). Two percent sustained spinal cord injuries, mainly from sports. Eight children died, and 43.6% developed one or more functional limitations. Frequent, severe, and costly injuries should be the focus of school safety policies, and a mix of injury prevention strategies should be applied.

It is well established that seat belts reduce mortality and morbidity among children. Data are presented for 413 children injured severely enough in motor vehicle crashes to require hospitalization. Of the unrestrained children, 4.5% died, compared with 2.4% of the belted children. Unrestrained children had a higher proportion of injuries in four of five anatomical regions, were more severely injured, stayed longer in the hospital, and were 15% more likely than belted children to be discharged with impairments.

Objective: To determine differences between hospitalized injured children who had preinjury cognitive impairments (IMPs) and children who had no preinjury cognitive conditions (NO).Design: Comparative analysis, excluding fatalities, of patients with IMP (n=371) with patients with NO (n= 58745), aged from 0 to 19 years.