This help file section provides in-depth definitions of the terms used to represent data elements in WISQARS Fatal.  You can access these definitions by topic section (below) or by the report request pages (click on an underlined word to view its definition).

5.1 Definitions for Mortality (Fatal Injury) Reports

5.2 Definitions for Leading Causes of Death Reports

5.3 Definitions for Years of Potential Life Lost (YPLL) Reports

This section provides definitions of data elements and specific categories within data elements available from WISQARS Fatal mortality (fatal injury) reports. The data elements in the main report options are cause or mechanism of injury; intent of injury; census region / state of residence; year(s) of report; race, hispanic origin, and sex of the deceased; and output options.   Some of these elements are made up of categories, which also are defined below.  The advanced report options address output groups, age adjusting, and age selection.

5.1.1 Data Elements: Cause (Mechanism) and Intent (Manner) of Injury

The cause, or mechanism, of injury is the way in which the person sustained the injury; how the person was injured; or the process by which the injury occurred.  Intent of injury is whether an injury was caused by an act carried out on purpose by oneself or by another person(s), with the goal of injuring or killing.

5.1.1a  Terrorism Cause

As of October 2003, WISQARS includes terrorism as a cause of injury. For 2001, ICD-10 terrorism codes were added to respective intent (or manner of death) and cause of injury categories. For more details on these terrorism codes, see CDC's National Center for Health Statistics website. These deaths from terrorism were associated with the September 11, 2001 terrorism attacks in New York City, Pennsylvania, and Virginia; a total of 2,926 U.S. residents lost their lives in this tragic event in 2001. In addition, one U.S. resident died in 2002 as a result of the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Please note that these deaths also are included in the homicide and suicide counts and death rates presented in WISQARS. The new "terrorism" option allows users to produce Fatal Injury Reports for only terrorism-related deaths. These terrorism-related deaths break out as follows:

2001 Deaths of U.S. Residents from Terrorism (September 11, 2001)

5.1.1b  Intent Categories

Suicide - intentionally self-inflicted injury that results in death

Homicide - injuries inflicted by another person with intent to injure or kill, by any means. Excludes injuries due to legal intervention and operations of war. Justifiable homicide is not identified in WISQARS.

Legal Intervention - injuries inflicted by the police or other law-enforcing agents, including military on duty, in the course of arresting or attempting to arrest lawbreakers, suppressing disturbances, maintaining order, and other legal actions. Excludes injuries caused by civil insurrections.

Operation of War – Injuries to military personnel or civilians caused by war or civil insurrection, including those occurring during the time of war or insurrection and after cessation of hostilities. The number of deaths in this category ( i.e., ICD-9 codes E990-E999 for 1981 through 1998 and ICD-10 codes Y36.0-.9 for 1999 to present ) is small (e.g. 14 in 2003). These operation of war deaths are included in totals, but can not be reported separately using WISQARS.

5.1.1c  Cause and Intent Combinations for 1999 and Later Data
The cause you select, together with the intent you select, allows you to narrow the search to a particular injury category.  Not all combinations are valid (legitimate or applicable).  The table below shows the available cause options and intent options.  An X indicates a valid cause-intent combination.  For instance, the cause drowning / submersion and the intent suicide are a valid combination, so an "X" appears in the box for that combination.  Drowning / submersion and legal intervention are not valid, so the box for that combination is blank..

Table 5.1.1 : Valid Cause and Intent Combinations for 1999 and Later Data 

The specific injury causes are from the Final ICD-10 Matrix (available from the National Center for Health Statistics website; requires Adobe Acrobat)  and defined by their International Classification of Disease, 10th revision (ICD-10) codes.  The definitions of ICD-10 codes are available from the CDC's WONDER system.  Similar to the table above, this framework shows the cause or mechanism of injury along one axis and the intent of injury along the other.  The Injury Mortality Reports include the causes from this framework as well as the following additional categories: 

* The percentage of Fire/flame deaths (E890-E899) with no stated place of accident was approximately 6.03% for data from 1999.  Please bear these figures in mind when interpreting your results.
 

Cause and Intent Combinations for 1998 and Earlier Data
The cause you select, together with the intent you select, allows you to narrow the search to a particular injury category.  Not all combinations are valid (legitimate or applicable), however.  The table below shows the available cause options and intent options.  An X indicates a valid cause-intent combination.  For instance, the cause drowning / submersion and the intent suicide are a valid combination, so an "X" appears in the box for that combination.  Drowning / submersion and legal intervention are not valid, so the box for that combination is blank.

Table 5.1.2 : Valid Cause and Intent Combinations for 1998 and Earlier Data 

The specific injury causes are from the Recommended Framework for Presenting Injury Mortality Data (requires Adobe Acrobat) and defined by their International Classification of Disease, 9th revision (ICD-9) codes.  The definitions of ICD-9 codes are available from the National Center for Health Statistics WONDER system.  Similar to the table above , this framework shows the cause or mechanism of injury along one axis and the intent of injury along the other.  The mortality reports include the causes from this framework as well as the following additional categories: