WISQARS™ Fatal Injury Mapping Help Menu
5. Frequently Asked Questions
- What are WISQARS and WISQARS Fatal Injury Mapping?
- What is the suggested citation for WISQARS Fatal Injury Mapping?
- What information can I get from WISQARS Fatal Injury Mapping?
- What information can’t I get from WISQARS Fatal Injury Mapping?
- Where does WISQARS Fatal Injury Mapping get its data?
- What are crude and age-adjusted rates in WISQARS Fatal Injury Mapping?
- What is a smoothed rate in WISQARS Fatal Injury Mapping?
- How do I know which color scheme to request?
- How do I know how many intervals to request?
- How can I download a map image into presentation graphics software?
- How can I download the data for a map into a spreadsheet?
- How can I create a printable version of a map?
- When will new data be available for WISQARS Fatal Injury Mapping?
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What are WISQARS and WISQARS Fatal Injury Mapping?
The Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) was launched by the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 1999. It is an interactive system that provides data to the general public on fatal and nonfatal injuries in the United States. WISQARS is widely used nationally and internationally as a source of information for:
- national and state-level injury death rates and leading causes of death, based on data from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), National Vital Statistics System (NVSS);
- national estimates of nonfatal injuries, nonfatal injury rates, and leading causes of nonfatal injuries for persons treated in emergency departments, 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 rates and associated circumstances, based on data from the NCIPC National Violent Death Reporting System.
WISQARS Fatal Injury Mapping allows users to interactively produce color-coded maps of injury death rates, by intent and mechanism of injury. These maps can show the distribution of injury death rates nationally, regionally, and for individual states. Maps can be produced that show either state-level or county-level detail. This mapping tool can help:
- raise awareness of fatal injuries as a significant economic burden and preventable public health concern in the United States;
- promote awareness of geographic patterns in fatal injury rates and determine priorities for injury prevention programs;
- identify and communicate the geographic and financial 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 enhancing other fatal and nonfatal injury reporting modules of the WISQARS user-friendly, web-based system.
WISQARS and WISQARS Fatal Injury Mapping are operated by Statistics, Programming, and Economics Branch, Division of Analysis, Research, and Practice Integration, NCIPC, CDC, Atlanta, Georgia.
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What is the suggested citation for WISQARS Fatal Injury Mapping?
To cite the results from WISQARS in papers and other presentations, use the following text:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) [online]. {cited Year Month (abbreviated) Day}. Available at: www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars. -
What information can I get from WISQARS Fatal Injury Mapping?
WISQARS Fatal Injury Mapping allows you to interactively produce color-coded maps showing injury death rates and traumatic brain injury death rates, by intent and mechanism of injury. These maps can show the distribution of injury death rates nationally, regionally, and for individual states. Maps can be produced that show either state-level or county-level detail. Both crude rates and age-adjusted rates are provided, and geospatial smoothing (which can sometimes clarify geographic patterns) is available for maps showing county-level detail. You can request maps for population subgroups defined by race, Hispanic origin, sex, and age.
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What information can’t I get from WISQARS Fatal Injury Mapping?
WISQARS Fatal Injury Mapping does not allow you to request data by nature of injury or by body region, except for traumatic brain injury. Traumatic brain injury is offered as a special reporting category because it is the leading type of injury resulting in death.
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Where does WISQARS Fatal Injury Mapping get its data?
Mortality data are obtained from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) annual mortality data files. The annual mortality data files are derived from NVSS Mortality Multiple Cause-of-Death data.1 For more information about this mortality data, see the section Mortality (Fatal Injury) Data or visit the NCHS/NVSS website at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss.htm.Resident population estimates used to calculate injury death rates were produced by the U.S. Census Bureau in collaboration with NCHS. For calendar years 2008 – 2009 the population figures represent bridged-race intercensal estimates, which combine information from the 2000 decennial census and the 2010 decennial census. For calendar year 2010 the population figures represent bridged-race estimates for April 2010, and rely on the 2010 decennial census only. For calendar years 2011 – 2014 the population figures represent bridged-race postcensal estimates, also based on the 2010 decennial census. For more information about bridged-race population estimates, see the section Population Estimates or visit the NCHS website at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/bridged_race.htm.
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What are crude and age-adjusted rates in WISQARS Fatal Injury Mapping?
Crude rates are the simplest type of rate estimate provided by WISQARS Fatal Injury Mapping. They are useful when you want to map observed statewide or county-level death rates.Age-adjusted rates may be preferred for injuries that occur more often among certain age groups than others. For instance, fall-related deaths are more common among the elderly than any other age group. Age adjustment enables you to compare injury death rates across regions, states, and counties without concern that patterns in the maps are simply due to differences in the age distributions for populations in the different areas.
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What is a smoothed rate in WISQARS Fatal Injury Mapping?
For maps that show county-level crude rates or county-level age-adjusted rates, you can optionally request that geospatial smoothing be applied to the rates. The smoothing process pools data from adjacent counties in order to stabilize rate patterns, and can sometimes help highlight geographic trends that might otherwise not be clearly visible. For further details, see the section Statistical and Mapping Methods for Rates.
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How do I know which color scheme to request?
You can select from six different color schemes, including two sequential schemes, two monochrome schemes, and two divergent schemes. Sequential and monochrome schemes are most useful for highlighting counties or states with high death rates. Divergent schemes are most useful for simultaneously highlighting counties or states that have either high or low death rates.
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How do I know how many intervals to request?
You can request that as few as 3 or as many as 9 intervals be used for mapping rates. The number of map colors will be the same as the number of intervals. If you request a map covering just a few states and/or counties, a small number of intervals will often be appropriate. For maps covering many states and/or counties, more intervals may be appropriate.The number of intervals together with the interval type will determine how the intervals are formed. For example, if you request 4 intervals (the default) and the interval type is “quantile” (currently the only type available) the intervals will be formed using quartiles.
Sometimes, too many intervals will be requested for a particular map. If so, WISQARS Fatal Injury Mapping will automatically adjust the map and use fewer intervals than requested. See the section Interval Construction for more details.
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How can I download a map image into presentation graphics software?
Click on the Save Map Image icon to the right of the map display to save your map image. A map image can be saved as a “png” file and easily imported into graphics software for developing slide presentations.The map, title, and footnotes are all included by default. Right-clicking on the image and selecting appropriate image-editing software allows you to crop the title and the footnotes so that you can save just the map alone, permitting you to substitute customized titles and footnotes in your slide presentations.
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How can I download the data for a map into a spreadsheet?
Click on the Export Data icon to the right of the map display to download the map data in a spreadsheet format. State and/or county names and corresponding Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) codes are also included in the download.
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How can I create a printable version of a map?
Click on the Printable View icon to the right of the map display generate a printable version of both the request page and the map display.
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When will new data be available for WISQARS Fatal Injury Mapping?
The National Center for Injury Prevention and Control plans to update the mortality and population data used in WISQARS Fatal Injury Mapping every three to four years.
WISQARSTM Fatal Injury Mapping