@article{ref1,
title="Using injury severity to improve occupational injury trend estimates",
journal="American journal of industrial medicine",
year="2014",
author="Sears, Jeanne M. and Bowman, Stephen M. and Hogg-Johnson, Sheilah",
volume="57",
number="8",
pages="928-939",
abstract="BACKGROUND: Hospitalization-based estimates of trends in injury incidence are also affected by trends in health care practices and payer coverage that may differentially impact minor injuries. This study assessed whether implementing a severity threshold would improve occupational injury surveillance. <br><br>METHODS: Hospital discharge data from four states and a national survey were used to identify traumatic injuries (1998-2009). Negative binomial regression was used to model injury trends with/without severity restriction, and to test trend divergence by severity. <br><br>RESULTS: Trend estimates were generally biased downward in the absence of severity restriction, more so for occupational than non-occupational injuries. Restriction to severe injuries provided a markedly different overall picture of trends. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Severity restriction may improve occupational injury trend estimates by reducing temporal biases such as increasingly restrictive hospital admission practices, constricting workers' compensation coverage, and decreasing identification/reporting of minor work-related injuries. Injury severity measures should be developed for occupational injury surveillance systems. Am. J. Ind. Med. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0271-3586",
doi="10.1002/ajim.22329",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ajim.22329"
}