Injury is damage to the body. This maybe caused by accidents, falls, hits, weapons, and other causes. Major trauma is injury that has the potential to cause prolonged disability or death.
In 2013 4.8 million people died from injuries up from 4.3 million in 1990. More than 30% of these deaths were transport related injuries. In 2013 367,000 children less than five died from injuries down from 766,000 in 1990. Injuries are the cause of 9% of all death and are the sixth leading cause of death in the world
The World Health Organization (WHO) developed the International Classification of External Causes of Injury (ICECI). Under this system, injuries are classified by
- mechanism of injury,
- objects/substances producing injury,
- place of occurrence,
- activity when injured,
- the role of human intent,
and additional modules. These codes allow the identification of distributions of injuries in specific populations and case identification for more detailed research on causes and preventive efforts.