Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS™) Nonfatal Injury Reports Help Menu

1. Nonfatal Injury Reports – Tutorial
   This section provides a step-by-step introduction Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS™) Nonfatal Injury Reports.
2. About Nonfatal Injury Reports
   Find an overview of nonfatal injury reports and the options offered.
3. About Leading Causes of Nonfatal Injury Reports
   Find an overview of leading causes of nonfatal injury reports and the options offered.
4. About Cost of Injury Reports
   Find an overview of cost of injury reports and the options offered.
5. Definitions of Report Data Elements
   This section has thorough definitions of the data elements mentioned in the report request options and in the reports themselves.
6. Data Sources
   This section further explains the purpose of data sources for WISQARS Nonfatal and the process of compiling the data.
7. References
   References used within this help file

2. About Nonfatal Injury Reports

The request page for nonfatal injury reports allows you to request statistical tables by

• Cause (mechanism) of injury (such as falls, motor vehicle, fire/burn, cut/pierce, poisonings)
• Intent of injury (such as unintentional, assault, self-harm);
• Race / ethnicity (such as non-white Hispanic, black, Hispanic),
• Sex
• Disposition (where the injured person went after being released from the emergency department), and
• Year of reporting.

Also, for transportation-related injuries (e.g., motor vehicle occupant, motorcyclist, pedal cyclist, pedestrian, and other transport), you can select whether the injury occurred on a public road or highway  (i.e., was traffic-related).

Under advanced options, you can

1. Select reporting groups (e.g., age groups, disposition),
2. Request age-adjusted rates by standard populations, and
3. Define specific ages or age groupings of interest.

Because of the relatively high proportion of cases with unknown/unspecified race/ethnicity (approximately 17% of overall cases), WISQARS Nonfatal does not provide injury rates for selected race/ethnicity groups.

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3. About Leading Causes of Nonfatal Injury

The request page for leading causes of nonfatal injury reports allows you to access charts of leading causes of injury.  One way to access a chart is to select one of nine quick reports that display common leading causes of nonfatal injury.  These quick reports are located at the top of the request page.

The other way to access a chart is to request a custom report.  You can request up to 20 leading causes of nonfatal injuries by

• Sex,
• Race / ethnicity,
• Disposition (where the injured person went after release from the emergency department),
• Intent of injury (unintentional or violence-related), and
• Year of reporting.

After you select a quick report or submit your custom request, WISQARS nonfatal displays a chart that ranks leading causes of nonfatal injuries by age groups and for all ages. Under advanced options for a customized report, you can select rankings of leading causes by single year of age or for a specific age group.

At the top of each column in the chart is a specific age group. By clicking on one of these age groups, you can obtain percentages and advanced statistics on the stability of the national estimates provided within the chart.

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4. About Cost of Injury Reports

This application produces reports showing estimated costs associated with fatal or nonfatal injuries classified either by

• intent and mechanism of injury or
• body region and nature of injury.

Cost estimates can be calculated using system-provided data (built in to the application) or using a combination of system-provided data and data that you enter.

You can specify the following characteristics for cost estimates

• national, regional, or state-level geographic coverage for fatal injuries (estimates are always at the national level for nonfatal injuries)
• sex and age of injured persons
• type of cost (lifetime medical and/or lifetime work loss and/or both combined) and cost measure (total for all persons and/or average per person)
• indexing to U.S., regional, or state prices (depending on geographic coverage specified)
• indexing to prices for different calendar years (when using your own data).

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References

1. Gotsch KE, Annest JL, Mercy JA, Ryan GW. Surveillance for fatal and nonfatal firearm-related injuries–United States, 1993-1998. In: CDC Surveillance Summaries, April 13, 2001. MMWR 2001;50(No.SS-2):1-36.
2. CDC. Recommended framework for presenting injury mortality data. MMWR 1997;46 (no. RR-14).
3. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The NEISS sample: design and implementation. In: Kessler E, Schroeder T, eds. Washington, DC: US Consumer Product Safety Commission, 2000.
4. CDC. National estimates of nonfatal injuries treated in hospital emergency departments—United States, 2000. MMWR 2001;50 (no. 17).
5. US Department of Health and Human Services. Generic ICD-9-CM. Hospital version 1999. Reno, Nevada: Channel Publishing LTD, 1998.
6. CDC. A training module for coding mechanism and intent of injury for the NEISS All Injury Program. In: Annest JL, Pogostin CL, eds. Atlanta, Georgia: US Department of Health and Human Services, CDC, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, 2000.
7. US Consumer Product Safety Commission. NEISS coding manual 2000. Washington, DC: US Consumer Product Safety Commission.

WISQARS Nonfatal Injury Reports