Maine Injury and Violence Prevention Program

Glossary of Terms

Injury - results from the acute exposure to physical agents such as mechanical energy, heat, electricity, chemicals and ionizing radiation in amounts or at rates above the threshold for human tolerance

Unintentional Injury - Injuries that were unplanned, not intended to happen, such as motor vehicle crashes, fires and drownings.

Intentional Injury - Injuries that were intended to injury a person. Examples are assaults, homicides, self-inflicted injuries and suicides.

Rates per 100,000 - The standard method of comparing health issues across different causes of illness or death; and across geographic areas. State the number of persons out of 100,000 people who have experienced the illness or death.

  • ME Rate - Maine rate per 100,000 people
  • US Rate - United States rate per 100,000 people

Motor Vehicle Occupant - A death or injury resulting from motor vehicle crashes while riding or driving a motor vehicle.

Pedestrian - A death or injury caused by a pedestrian being hit by a motor vehicle, bicycle or animal.

Struck by - A death or injury from being struck or struck against object, either moving or stationary, or by a person unintentionally.

Cut/Pierce - A death or injury caused by cutting and piercing instruments or objects.

Natural/Environmental - An injury caused by some force in the environment such as snake bite, dog bite, lighting, etc.

Self-Injurious Behavior - An injury caused by the person to him or herself. This applies only to hospitalizations and includes suicide attempts and self-injurious behavior that is not suicidal. If the person completes a suicide, the case is examined and a determination of suicide is made by the medical examiner.

Late Effects of Injury - A death or hospitalization that where a previous injury was the primary cause.

Five-year Moving Averages - A method to examine health trends when there are small number of incidents. Five years of injuries are added together and a rate per 100,000 is calculated using five years of population. This results in a smoother more definable trend on a graph such as the Youth Suicide graph.

Sports Injuries - A Stuck By, Fall or Diving injury while engaged in sports.
Foreign Object/Obstruction - A death or injury caused by a foreign object in the respiratory track, digestive track or other orifice.

Drowning/Submersion - A death or injury caused by drowning or submersion with or without a watercraft.

Falls - A death or injury from falls associated with steps/stairs, ladders, scaffolds, one level to another, chair or bed, other and unspecified falls, falls from high places, jumping from high places (suicide or self-injurious), and pushing from high places (homicide or assault).

Firearms - A death or injury caused by handguns. shotguns, hunting rifle, military firearms, or flares.

Motorcycle Occupant - A death or injury caused by a motor vehicle while driving or riding a motorcycle.

Snowmobile/ATV Occupant - A death or injury caused by a snowmobile or ATV crash while riding a snowmobile or ATV.

Bicycle - A death or injury from a bicycle crash with or without another motor vehicle, pedestrian or stationary object.