Limitations of Secondary Data Sets for Road Traffic Injury Epidemiology: A Study from Karachi, Pakistan

This article reports on a study undertaken to evaluate the completeness of descriptive information and accuracy of ambulance data when compared with two other secondary sources of data: medical examiners' reports and medical records. The authors carried out a retrospective chart review on all road traffic injury (RTI) victims (n = 1,245) transported by an ambulance service in Karachi, Pakistan, in the calendar year 2003. Infomration on the name, age, and gender of the victim, date, time and place of injury, and type of injury and its outcome was obtained, and then compared with medical examiners' data and inpatient medical records. Most (81%) of the cases were taken by ambulance to one of three trauma centers. Twenty percent died before reaching hospital. There were missing variables in 340 cases (27%), the majority of which were the unique identifiers such as name and age (67%). Data on other variables were reported in 95% or more cases. None of the medical examiners' reports or inpatient medical records contained a description of the event of injury. The agreement rate for the variables available in the three data sets ranged from 61% to 100%. The authors conclude that secondary data on injuries, including ambulance reports, medical examiners' reports, and medical records, have significant limitations.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/10903127
• Authors:
  • Razzak, Junaid Abdul
  • Laflamme, Lucie
• Publication Date: 2005-7

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 355-360
• Serial:
  • Prehospital Emergency Care
  • Volume: 9
  • Issue Number: 3
  • Publisher: Taylor & Francis
  • ISSN: 1090-3127
  • EISSN: 1545-0066
  • Serial URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/ipec20/current

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Ambulance personnel; Crash injuries; Crash records; Data collection; Injury classification; Medical records; Recordkeeping; Traffic crash victims
• Geographic Terms: Karachi (Pakistan)
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I10: Economics and Administration; I84: Personal Injuries;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01010573
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Nov 12 2005 6:12AM