Injury Reports Module Help

The WISQARS Injury Reports Module allows users to run simple, customizable queries to produce tables with fatal and nonfatal injury data, such as:

  • The total number of injury deaths and death rates by intent and mechanism (cause) of injury, or
  • National estimates of injuries treated in U.S. hospital emergency departments (ED) by intent and mechanism of injury.

The process for customizing queries and selecting output options is briefly described below.

Getting Started

To customize the table displayed when you access the module, you will begin by clicking the "Change Filters" button near the top, right of the screen.

WISQARS™ Data Use Agreement

You are asked to agree to the terms of the WISQARS™ Data Use Agreement the first time you click on the "Change Filters" button. Click "I Agree" on the pop-up screen to accept the confidentiality terms for data usage and to continue to the Data Filters screen.

The Data Filters screen will allow you to make some key decisions about the data you want to view—such as data years, geography, intent, mechanism, and demographic variables—to create a report.

Some choices may affect the other data filter options that are available. For example, race and ethnicity options are only available when you select "fatal" under "injury outcome". Below is a list of the data options available.

Data Filters screen for WISQARS' Injury Reports Module
Data Filters screen for WISQARS' Injury Reports Module

Data Filters: Injury Outcome

This section allows you to specify the type of injury outcome for which data are to be generated. One of the following two injury outcomes must be selected:

  • Fatal: This option refers to injury-related deaths for which a death certificate was filed in a state vital statistics office and then submitted to the National Center for Health Statistics for inclusion in the National Vital Statistics System.

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Only

The Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Only checkbox is only available if you've selected fatal injuries. It allows you to filter data exclusively by injuries that affect how the brain works. These mild, moderate, and severe injuries caused by a bump, blow, jolt, or penetration to the head.

  • Nonfatal: This option refers to patients initially treated for a nonfatal unintentional or violence-related injury in a United States ED. The source of the data used to estimate the number of injury-related ED visits is the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System – All Injury Program (NEISS-AIP).

Show Advanced Statistics Results Columns

The Show Advanced Statistics Results Columns check box is only available if you've selected nonfatal injuries. Selecting it expands the output table to include Cases, Standard Error, Coefficient of Variant, and 95% Confidence Intervals. Otherwise, columns are collapsed to only present the estimated Number of injuries, Population, Crude Rate, and Age- Adjusted Rate.

Data Filters: Year and Race Options

This data filter is only available when you select "fatal" under "injury outcome" and allows you to request fatal injury reports by race and ethnicity categories.

From data year 2001 to 2020, WISQARS used bridged race categories: White, Black, American Indian/Alaska Native, and Asian/Pacific Islander.

Beginning with data year 2018, WISQARS' fatal injury reports includes data for the current U.S. Census Bureau's six single race categories: White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaskan Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and More than One Race.

When exploring fatal data, users have the option to choose one of the following categories depending on the data year(s) and race categories they wish to view:

No Race Categories (available for data years 2001-present):

  • 2001 – present with No Race excludes race as a filter category so users can look at trends across all available data years. This is the default view.

Bridged Race Category (available for data years 2001-2020):

  • 2001 – 2020 by Bridged Race allows you to see the previous bridged race categories: White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaskan Native, and Asian or Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander.

Single Race Categories (available for data years 2018-present):

  • 2018 – present by Single Race allows you to see the current six single race categories: White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaskan Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and More than One Race.
  • 2018 – present by Single Race (Asian/HI Native/Pacific Islander combined) allows you to see the current single race categories with Asian and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander as one combined race category.

Nonfatal Data - Year and Race Options

The "year and race options" data filter disappears when you select "nonfatal" under "Injury outcome".

However, beginning with data year 2018, race and ethnicity data are available for estimated nonfatal injuries through the "Report Layout – Group Results by" data filter. This filter option allows you to view nonfatal injury data grouped by single race categories White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaskan Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, Other / More than One Race, and Unknown/Not stated.

Data Filters: Intent

This option allows you to request reports by intent of injury. 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.

Users can select the intent of injury from the dropdown menu under "Intent". The intent categories for injury-related deaths are:

  • All Intents
  • Unintentional
  • Violence related (homicide, legal intervention, suicide)
  • Undetermined

The intent categories for nonfatal injuries initially treated in a United States hospital ED are:

  • All intents
  • Unintentional (includes undetermined)
  • Violence-related (assaults, legal intervention, self-harm)

WISQARS Glossary

Find definitions for the different injury intents at the WISQARS Glossary.

Data Filters: Mechanism

This option allows you to request fatal and nonfatal injury reports by mechanism (cause) 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.

Users can select the cause or mechanism of injury (e.g., firearm, poisoning) from the dropdown menu under "Mechanism". The mechanism categories for injury-related deaths are:

Fatal - There are 28 mechanism categories for injury-related deaths. Of those, adverse effects overall, fire/burn, poisoning, transport-related overall, motor vehicle - traffic, pedal cyclist, and pedestrian mechanisms have options that allow the user to run more detailed queries. ICD-10 codes associated with each fatal mechanism will be displayed in the output table.

Nonfatal - There are 18 reportable mechanism categories for injuries resulting in hospitalization subsequent to ED treatment or injuries resulting in an ED visit followed by release (without hospitalization or other transfer). Of those, the transportation mechanism has options that allow the user to run more detailed queries.

Did the injury occur on a public road or highway?

This option, only available when you select "transportation" as a cause for nonfatal injuries, allows you to specify if you want to include injuries that occurred on a public road or highway in your report

Data Filters: Disposition

Only available for nonfatal data

This option allows you to request nonfatal injury reports by disposition or where the individual was moved to after being admitted to the Emergency Department. This could help measure on severity of each case from the physician perspective. One of the following dispositions must be selected:

  • Treated and Release: This option refers to patients treated for an injury in a United States hospital emergency department and then released without being hospitalized or transferred for specialized physical or psychological care.
  • Transferred: This option refers to patients initially treated for an injury in a United States hospital emergency department and then transferred for specialized physical or psychological care.
  • Hospitalized: This option refers to patients initially treated for an injury in a United States hospital emergency department and then hospitalized for specialized physical or psychological care.
  • Observed/Left AMA/Unkown: This option refers to patients that were held for observation due to an injury in a United States hospital emergency department, left against medical advice, or the disposition is unknown.

Data Filters: Years of Potential Life Lost (YPLL)

Only available for fatal data

Years of potential life lost (YPLL) is a measure of premature mortality (early death). YPLL is calculated by subtracting the age at death from the standard year you select, and then summing the individual YPLL across each cause of death.

The option "Calculate YPLL before Age" is only available when you select "fatal" under "injury outcome" and allows you to select the standard age from which the years of potential life lost (YPLL) is calculated. The default choice is 65. This option also offers older ages in five-year increments up to age 85 (70, 75, 80, 85).

Note: YPLL calculation does not include people who died at the standard age or older. For instance, choosing 65 as the standard age excludes people who died at age 65 or older from the calculation of YPLL-65.

Data Filters: Metro/Non-Metro Indicator

Only available for fatal data

This option allows you to focus on the degree of urbanization by selecting Metro or Non-Metro.

WISQARS's source for the metro/nonmetro urbanization variable is the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS') 2013 Urban-Rural Classification Scheme for Counties. Each county is classified within one of six categories based on their size or estimated population. The large central metro classification is the most "urban" category, and the noncore classification is the most "rural" category.

  • The large central metro category contains counties in metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) of one million or more population that have been identified by NCHS classification rules as central because they contain all or part of a principal city of the area.
  • The large fringe metro category contains the remaining counties (similar to suburbs) in MSAs of one million or more.
  • Counties in MSAs of 250,000 to 999,999 population are assigned to the medium metro category.
  • Counties in MSAs with populations under 250,000 are assigned to the small metro category.
  • Nonmetropolitan counties that are designated by the Office of Management and Budget as belonging to a micropolitan statistical area are assigned to the micropolitan category.
  • The remaining nonmetropolitan counties are assigned to the noncore category.

WISQARS collapses these six urbanization categories into a bi-level "metro/nonmetro indicator" variable.

The counties assigned as metro include:

  • Large Central Metro
  • Large Fringe Metro
  • Medium Metro
  • Small Metro

and those assigned as nonmetro include:

  • Micropolitan, and
  • Noncore

Data Filters: Demographics

Users can select the year, place, and demographics that they wish to include in the final report.

Users can select the year(s) of fatal or nonfatal injury data they want to explore from the dropdown menu under "Data Years." WISQARS' Injury Reports module has data going back to 2001. The default setting is the most recent data year available.

From the dropdown menu under "geography," users can request to see national counts and rates for fatal and nonfatal injuries. Regional and state-level estimates are only available for fatal injuries.

Sex

You can request to see fatal injury data for:

  • Both sexes (default), which includes unknown sex, or
  • Males only, or
  • Females only.

You can request to see nonfatal injury data for:

  • All sexes (the default), or
  • Male, or
  • Female, or
  • Unknown.

Age

The age range for fatal and nonfatal injury data can be specific in one of three different ways:

  • All ages (the default), which includes persons of unknown age.
  • Age groups, which allows selection of a specific age range in fixed 5-year increments. To request data for a single 5-year age group, both age group selection boxes should contain the same entry (for example, 15-19 to 15-19)
  • Custom age range, which allows selection of any age range (in years) and provides the most flexibility. This option is particularly useful for requesting information on a specific group whose ages do not coincide with the fixed 5-year age increments, such as teenagers (i.e., ages 13 to 19). To request data covering a single year of age, simply repeat the age in both selection boxes (e.g., 18 to 18).

Note: Age ranges (groups) include the endpoint years. For example, the age range 15-19 includes persons who were 15 years old and persons who were 19 years old.

Race and Ethnicity

Race and ethnicity data are available for both fatal and nonfatal injuries. The race and ethnicity data filters are only available when you select "fatal" under "injury outcome". You can use the Data Filter: Report Layout- Group Results by to see race and ethnicity data for nonfatal injuries.

The "Race" variable options change depending on what you select for the "Year and Race Options".

The following categories are available when you select "2001-2020 by Bridged Race"

  • All Races (the default), or
  • White, or
  • Black, or
  • American Indian/Alaska Native, or
  • Asian / HI Native / Pacific Islander

The following categories are available when you select "Single Race"

  • All Races (the default), or
  • White, or
  • Black, or
  • American Indian / Alaska Native, or
  • Asian, or
  • HI Native / Pacific Islander, or
  • More than One Race

The following categories are available when you select "Single Race (Asian / HI Native / Pacific Islander combined)"

  • All Races (the default), or
  • White, or
  • Black, or
  • Asian / HI Native / Pacific Islander, or
  • American Indian/Alaska Native, or
  • More than One Race.

The Ethnicity variable options (i.e., Hispanic, Non-Hispanic, Unknown) are available for all "year and race options" categories, including the "No Race" category.

Nonfatal Data - Year and Race Options

The race and ethnicity data filter options disappear when you select "nonfatal" under "Injury outcome".

However, beginning with data year 2018, race and ethnicity data are available for estimated nonfatal injuries through the "Report Layout – Group Results by" data filter. This filter option allows you to view nonfatal injury data grouped by single race categories White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaskan Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, Other / More than One Race, and Unknown/Not stated. Nonfatal injuries can also be grouped by Ethnicity variable categories Hispanic, Non-Hispanic, and Unknown beginning with data year 2018 forward.

Data Filters: Report Layout – Group Results by

Users can select how they want the results grouped (e.g., by year, sex, age, race). Up to four output groups can be chose for both fatal and nonfatal injury reports.

Results can be grouped by:

  • Year
  • Intent
  • Mechanism
  • Sex
  • Race (available for nonfatal injury data for years 2018 forward)
  • Ethnicity (available for nonfatal injury data for years 2018 forward)
  • Age
  • Age group
  • State (only available for fatal injuries)
  • Metro / Non-Metro (only available for fatal injuries)

Users may want to run multiple queries to decide which table layout best reflects the data that they wish to display.

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