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Health Interview Data
Data Source
NHIS – Injury Summary
The National Health Interview Survey collects data on all medically attended injuries and poisonings occurring to any family member during the 3-month period prior to the interview. Information about the cause of the injury or poisoning episode, activity the person was doing at the time of the injury or poisoning episode, the place of occurrence, whether the person was hospitalized, whether the person missed any days from work or school due to the injury or poisoning, whether the injury or poisoning episode caused any limitation of activity, ICD-9-CM diagnostic codes, and ICD-9-CM external cause codes are available.
There is also narrative text taken verbatim from the respondent describing how the person was injured or poisoned. This information is available on injuries for data years 1997-present and poisonings for 2000 – present.
Publications
Presentations
Public-use Data
Beginning in 1997 the Family Core portion of the NHIS included questions about medically attended injuries and poisonings that occurred to any member of the family within a 3-month reference period. Injury and poisoning information was provided by the family respondent or the injured/poisoned person if present during the interview. During data years 1997-1999, three data files containing injury information (Injury Episode, Verbatim Injury Episode, and Person) and two files containing poisoning information (Poison Episode and Person) were made available to the public. During data years 2000-present, two files containing injury and poisoning information (Injury/Poisoning Episode and Verbatim Injury/Poisoning Episode) were created from the NHIS data.
The NHIS was redesigned in 1997 and the injury data from 1997 onwards not comparable to earlier years. The injury questions were revised in 2000 and 2004. The NHIS Questionnaires, Datasets, and Related Documentation for the years 1997-present are available on the NHIS website. The injury section of the questionnaire, referred to as the FIJ section, is included in the Family Core of NHIS.
- Detail description and analytic guidance of injury data in NHIS is available at: Injury Episodes and Circumstances: National Health Interview Survey, 1997-2007 [PDF – 777 KB]
- NHIS – Injury and Poisoning Information
Tools and Frameworks
- Barell Matrix
The Barell Matrix is a two-dimensional array of three-, four-, and five-digit ICD-9-CM injury codes grouped by the body region of the injury and the nature of the injury and was developed by the International Collaborative Effort on Injury Statistics - ICD-9-CM Framework for Presenting Injury Morbidity Data-External Cause
This matrix contains the ICD-9-CM external cause of injury codes that are not included in ICD-9 mortality codes. In addition, a list of codes that have been added since 1994 is appended to the matrix.