The same injury descriptions as Zhou et al [26] with superficial wounds (35.9%), open wounds (33.8%) and fractures (10.7%) were used. None of the key injury severity and outcome indicators of interest were noted. Despite this limitation, the study is important as the stated intent was to highlight the importance of surveillance systems as the basis for injury control strategies. In the fourth of the Reporting Card studies, Li et al [28] reported on 7065 patients who presented to one of 26 hospitals in Gaocheng due to injury. Similar mechanism categories as the other studies were used, with transport (36%) and blunt instrument (25%) being the leading causes of Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical injury. The reporting of age in this

study was the most comprehensive all papers in the Review, particularly for those under 25 years of age. This was the only one of the four ‘reporting card’ studies to report mortality, with the Adriamycin mortality rate being 0.86%. No other key indicators of injury severity or patient outcomes were noted. Collaborative studies Two studies were identified as being ‘collaborative Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical studies’, one being a retrospective study of patients admitted to 332 hospitals in Guangdong over a 5 year period [29] and Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical the other a prospective study at two

hospitals in Shantou over a 1-year period [30] (Table ​(Table55). Li and Wang’s 1997-2001 retrospective study [29] is the largest reported in this Review, with nearly 1.1 million patients admitted to an emergency department due to injury. Data was Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical collated from Reporting Forms sent by the hospitals to a central health authority. As with all of the studies, injury mechanism

was documented using standard categories, these being motor vehicle crashes (36%), unintentional falls (15.3%), industrial accidents (11.9%), and assault (16.8%) (Table ​(Table7).7). Despite some similarity in reporting categories, the ICD system was not used. The overall mortality rate was 1.6% with 56% being traffic-related deaths. This was the only study in the Review to report mean length of stay (16 days) as well as cost of treatment. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical The mean cost for treatment was CNY 5442 (USD$790) equating to approximately CNY 5.9 billion (USD$0.86bn) for the presenting patients across the 5 years at the participating hospitals. The study did not report age, gender, occupation, aminophylline or location of injury, nor were any of the clinical severity indicators reported. Li et al [30] provided details of 2611 patients presenting to two hospitals in Shantou over the period of one year (Nov 1999 – Nov 2000). The authors used a survey designed specifically for the study, although as presented the data was limited to a broad description of injury mechanism (i.e., [un]intentional) and a single limited age category (20-35 years: 47%). Mechanism of injury was ill-defined, with approximately 81% of patients presenting to the ED due to unspecified ‘unintentional injuries’, 15.