The feasibility is being explored of coding the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) severity directly from hospital discharge diagnoses which have been classified using the World Health Organisation's International Classification of Diseases (ICD). The ability to convert ICD rubrics to AIS severity codes would greatly enhance the scales utility. A clinical modification of the 9th revision of the ICD (ICD-9-CM) giving increased specificity has been recently developed. Several simplifying assumptions were made to facilitate conversion of the ICD-9-CM. Some of the more important ones are listed. A computerised ICD-9-CM-AIS '80 conversion table has been developed which can be used to assign severity scores to those rubrics for which a compatible AIS description exists. The validity of this conversion table is currently being tested. Although primary results are encouraging with regard to the utility of the table, certain limitations have been noted.
Abstract