Overview
The National Trauma Registry (NTR) provides trauma health care providers, researchers and injury prevention programs with essential information on injury or trauma in Canada.
Established in 1997, the NTR provides national hospitalization statistics that help educate Canadians about trauma and its consequences. The registry also provides a framework for trauma prevention efforts.
Find out more about trauma and injuries, including reports and analyses based on NTR data.
Data Source
The NTR collects data from two distinct data sets: the Comprehensive Data Set (CDS) and the Minimum Data Set (MDS).
The CDS data is extracted from provincial trauma registries that collect data on
- Trauma care
- Injury prevention
- Public health surveillance
- Information used for research and administrative purposes
Only designated trauma hospitals in provinces with a provincial/regional trauma registry or participating trauma facilities provide the trauma registry information that is included in the CDS.
Participating trauma registries and trauma centres typically collect demographic data, preadmission information (such as on ambulance transfers and circumstances of injury) and information on hospital care and patient outcomes using specialized trauma software. Only a subset of this information is submitted to the CDS.
The MDS data is extracted from the Hospital Morbidity Database on an annual basis.
Data Coverage
The NTR is composed of two distinct data sets:
- The MDS contains demographic, diagnostic and procedural information on all acute care hospitalizations due to trauma in Canada. It has baseline data for 1994–1995. The MDS includes trauma injuries, which are defined as injuries caused by a “transfer of energy applied clinically.”
- The CDS is made up of a subset of patients hospitalized with a severe injury at a participating trauma centre in Canada. Only severe injuries—defined as having a severity score greater than 12—are included in this data set. The severity score, known as an ISS, is an international scoring system created to calculate the severity of injuries so they can be compared internationally.
Data Availability
Data from 1994–1995 to 2012–2013 is available on request.
- Most recent year:
- MDS: 2010–2011
- CDS: 2012–2013
- Next release:
- N/A
- Historical series:
- MDS: 1994–1995 to 2009–2010
- CDS: 1999–2000 to 2011–2012
For data requests, please complete a data request form.
Classification
The NTR uses the ICD-10-CA/CCI classification system, which codes diagnoses and interventions in hospital separations.
As of 2004–2005, all records have been reported in ICD-10-CA and CCI; prior to that, ICD-9, CCP and ICD‑9‑CM were used.
In 2006–2007, Quebec began using ICD-10-CA and CCI to code diagnoses and interventions; prior to that, Quebec data was coded using ICD-9, CCP and ICD‑9‑CM.
ICD-10-CA and CCI Documents
- ICD-10-CA/CCI
- Canadian Coding Standards for ICD-10-CA and CCI
- ICD-10-CA and CCI Evolution Tables
- Validation Tables (for Use With ICD-10-CA/CCI)
Historical Documents
Documents from 2001 to 2009 are available on request.
- ICD-10-CA and CCI Conversions to ICD-9, ICD‑9‑CM and CCP
- Canadian Coding Standards for ICD-10-CA and CCI
- Validation Tables (for Use With ICD-10-CA/CCI)
Data Elements
The NTR contains the following data elements:
For more current information on data elements, please contact us at ntr@cihi.ca.
Data Quality
CIHI ensures that the quality of the information in our data holdings is suited to its intended uses and that data users are provided with accurate information about data quality. Read more about our Data and Information Quality Program.
Privacy impact assessment
Privacy impact assessments (PIAs) evaluate and address the privacy impacts of programs and systems.
Go to the Privacy and security page to view the PIA, which contains further information about the purposes, data elements and data sources for this data holding.
Contact us
For further information, please email