Prior to 2003, E-codes are included in the diagnosis array (DXn). Beginning in 2003, any separately reported E-codes and any E-codes encountered in the diagnosis array are placed in a separate array specific to E codes (ECODEn). NECODE indicates the total number of external cause of injury codes "E codes" (valid and invalid) that are included in the E code array (ECODEn)Prior to 2003, E-codes are included in the diagnosis array (DXn). Beginning in 2003, any separately reported E-codes and any E-codes encountered in the diagnosis array are placed in a separate array specific to E codes (ECODEn). NECODE indicates the total number of external cause of injury codes "E codes" (valid and invalid) that are included in the E code array (ECODEn)

In the NIS, only the first four E codes are retained on the record. Since the number of E codes on the original record (NEcode) can be greater than the number of E codes available on the NIS record, caution needs to be taken when using NEcode to loop through the E codes. A counter for the loop should not extend past 4. Programming code such as the following example SAS statement is needed to take this into account:

DO I = 1 to MIN(4,NEcode);
Followed by code to process all E codes.
END;