WISQARS™ Cost of Injury Reports Help Menu
6. Frequently Asked Questions
- What are WISQARS and WISQARS Cost of Injury Reports?
- What information can I get from WISQARS Cost of Injury Reports?
- Where does WISQARS Cost of Injury Reports get its data?
- How can I download the data shown in a WISQARS Cost of Injury report?
- When will newer data be available for WISQARS Cost of Injury Reports?
- What is the suggested citation for WISQARS and WISQARS Cost of Injury Reports?
- Why aren’t cost estimates that combine system-provided data and user-provided data evaluated for statistical reliability (stability)?
1. What are WISQARS and WISQARS Cost of Injury Reports?
The Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) is an interactive system that provides data to the general public on fatal and nonfatal injuries in the United States. It was launched by the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 1999. WISQARS is widely used nationally and internationally as a source for:
- national and state-level counts and rates of injury-related deaths, and leading causes of death, based on data from the National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics System;
- national estimates of counts and rates of injuries resulting in hospitalization subsequent to emergency department (ED) treatment or injuries resulting in an ED visit followed by release, and the leading causes of such injuries, based on data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission/CDC National Electronic Injury Surveillance System – All-Injury Program; and
- state-level violent death statistics and associated circumstances, based on data from the NCIPC National Violent Death Reporting System.
WISQARS Cost of Injury Reports allows users to interactively produce estimates of the costs associated with injury-related deaths, hospitalizations and ED visits. Cost estimates can be requested by injury intent in combination with injury mechanism (cause), or by affected body region in combination with nature of injury. Options are also provided in the user interface that support cost estimates by sex and for standard or custom age groupings.
Cost estimates can be based entirely on system-provided data, or can alternatively be based on a combination of system-provided data and user-provided data. Cost estimates based exclusively on system-provided data are available at the national, regional, and state levels for injury-related deaths, but at the national level only for injuries that resulted in hospitalization subsequent to ED treatment or that resulted in an ED visit followed by release. The geographic coverage of cost estimates that combine system-provided and user-provided data can be further tailored by controlling the coverage represented by the user-provided data (e.g., county or municipality).
WISQARS Cost of Injury reports can be used to:
- raise awareness of fatal and nonfatal injuries as a significant economic burden and preventable public health concern in the United States;
- promote awareness of costs associated with specific types and causes of injury and to help determine priorities for injury prevention programs;
- identify and communicate the potential benefits of injury prevention programs to the public, partners, and policymakers; and
- further the monitoring of injuries and their associated burdens in the United States by complementing other WISQARS injury reporting modules.17,18
WISQARS and WISQARS Cost of Injury Reports are operated by the Division of Analysis, Research and Practice Integration, NCIPC, CDC, Atlanta, Georgia.
2. What information can I get from WISQARS Cost of Injury Reports?
WISQARS Cost of Injury Reports allows users to interactively produce estimates of the costs associated with injury-related deaths, hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) visits. Estimates can be based entirely on system-provided data, or can alternatively be based on a combination of system-provided data and user-provided data.
Cost estimates can be requested by injury intent in combination with injury mechanism (cause), or by affected body region in combination with nature of injury. Options are also provided in the user interface that support cost estimates separately by sex and for standard or custom age groupings.
Cost estimates that are based entirely on system-provided data are available at the national, regional, and state levels for fatal injuries, but at the national level only for injuries that resulted in hospitalization subsequent to ED treatment or that resulted in an ED visit followed by release. The geographic coverage of cost estimates that combine system-provided and user-provided data can be further tailored by controlling the coverage represented by the user-provided data.
Estimates can be requested for:
- lifetime medical costs, and/or
- lifetime work loss costs, and/or
- combined costs (lifetime medical plus lifetime work loss)
and can be presented in the form of:
- totals (for all injuries covered by each reporting category), and/or
- averages (per case; available for reports based exclusively on system-provided data).
Cost estimates based exclusively on system-provided data represent injury outcomes for the year 2010 (the current base year for system-provided data) and are expressed in year 2010 prices. Cost estimates that combine system-provided data and user-provided data can be indexed to other years.
National cost estimates based on system-provided data are always expressed in terms of U.S. prices. Regional cost estimates based on system-provided data (available for injury-related deaths only) can be expressed in terms of U.S. prices (the default) or region-specific prices. State-level cost estimates based on system-provided data (available for injury-related deaths only) can be expressed in terms of U.S. prices (the default), region-specific prices, or state-specific prices.
3. Where does WISQARS Cost of Injury Reports get its data?
Comprehensive national data describing injury-related deaths were obtained from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) annual death data files. These files are derived from NCHS/NVSS multiple cause-of-death data.1 (For more information, contact NCHS at (301) 436-8500 or nchsquery@cdc.gov, or visit the NCHS/NVSS website.) WISQARS Cost of Injury Reports currently uses NCHS/NVSS death data representing calendar year 2010.
Nationally representative data describing injuries that resulted in hospitalization subsequent to emergency department (ED) treatment or that resulted in an ED visit followed by release (without hospitalization or other transfer) were obtained from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System – All Injury Program (NEISS-AIP) for calendar year 2010. NEISS-AIP is an extension of the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) operated by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). NEISS-AIP is a collaborative effort by CPSC and the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.
Estimated unit (per case) lifetime medical costs (e.g., treatment and rehabilitation) and lifetime work loss costs (e.g., lost wages, benefits, and self-provided household services) associated with injury-related deaths, hospitalizations, and ED visits (treated and released) were developed under a contract with the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE). The methodology used to develop these unit cost estimates is documented in the PIRE methods report9 and in Finkelstein et al 2006.10
4. How can I download the data shown in a WISQARS Cost of Injury report?
Clicking on the export data icon near the top of the on-screen report display will download the cost estimates (along with the query parameters) into an Excel spreadsheet, which can be permanently saved.
5. When will newer data be available for WISQARS Cost of Injury Reports?
Cost estimates based exclusively on system-provided data cover injury outcomes for the year 2010 (the current base year for the application) and are expressed in year 2010 prices. The Division of Analysis, Research and Practice Integration, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, plans to update the base reporting year and associated data approximately every five years.
The application also allows users to enter their own injury incidence data and to generate corresponding cost estimates, by injury intent in combination with injury mechanism (cause), or by affected body region in combination with nature of injury. This feature allows adjustments for inflation in order to obtain cost estimates that are indexed to years other than the current base year.
6. What is the suggested citation for WISQARS and WISQARS Cost of Injury Reports?
To cite results from WISQARS in papers and other presentations, the following text is suggested:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS).
7. Why aren’t cost estimates that combine system-provided data and user-provided data evaluated for statistical reliability (stability)?
Evaluating the statistical reliability (stability) of cost estimates requires substantial background knowledge about the data on which such estimates are based. While such evaluation is feasible for cost estimates that are based entirely on system-provided data, user-provided data will have differing origins and characteristics. The WISQARS Cost-of-Injury application therefore does not extend such evaluation to cost estimates that combine system-provided data and user-provided data.
WISQARS Cost of Injury Reports