5.0 Data
Sources for WISQARSTM
Nonfatal
This help file section provides a detailed description of the purpose of and data sources for WISQARS Nonfatal as well as the procedures involved in processing the data. The topics include
WISQARS Nonfatal Navigation
- Help
- Nonfatal Injury Reports
- Leading Causes of Nonfatal Injury Reports
5.1 Purpose and Intended Audience of WISQARS Nonfatal
5.2 The National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS)
5.3 Type of Data Captured and Coding Methods in NEISS-AIP
5.5 National Estimates: Statistical Reliability and Seasonality
5.1 Purpose and Intended Audience of WISQARS Nonfatal
WISQARS Nonfatal provides data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System-All Injury Program (NEISS-AIP). This data is intended for a broad audience--the public, the media, public health practitioners and researchers, and public health officials--to increase their knowledge of nonfatal injury. The NEISS-AIP data provides information about what types of nonfatal injuries occur in U.S. hospital emergency departments, how common they are, who they affect, and what causes them. In addition, the NEISS-AIP data help federal, state, and local public health officials to
- characterize and monitor trends in non-fatal injuries,
- identify emerging injury problems,
- identify persons at risk, and
- provide reliable surveillance data for program and policy decisions.4
5.2 The National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS)
The nonfatal injury data used in WISQARS Nonfatal are obtained from an expansion of the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) operated by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The expanded system, called the NEISS All Injury Program (NEISS-AIP), began on July 1, 2000, and collects data about all types and external causes of non-fatal injuries and poisonings treated in U.S. hospital emergency departments (EDs)--whether or not they are associated with consumer products. The NEISS All Injury Program (NEISS-AIP) is a collaborative effort by the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC) and CPSC.
Since May 1971, CPSC has used NEISS to monitor consumer product-related injuries in its regulatory jurisdiction. In the year 2000, NEISS collected information from a nationally representative sample of 100 U.S. hospital EDs. The NEISS hospitals are a stratified probability sample of all U.S. hospitals (including U.S. territories) that have at least six beds and provide 24-hour emergency services. The NEISS-AIP data are collected at 66 of the 100 NEISS hospitals, which represent the nation's range of hospital settings. NEISS and NEISS-AIP hospitals include very large inner-city hospitals with trauma centers as well as large urban, suburban, rural, and children's hospitals.3
5.3 Type of Data Captured and Coding Methods in NEISS-AIP
5.3.1 Data
Captured
The National
Electronic Injury Surveillance System-All Injury Program
(NEISS-AIP) hospitals will provide data
from about 500,000 injury-related emergency department (ED) cases yearly. Data from
these cases are weighted by the inverse of the probability of
selection to provide national estimates.
In addition to the age, race/ethnicity, sex, and disposition ( where injured person goes when released from ED); cause/mechanism of injury; and intent of injury, data are being collected about the principal diagnoses, primary body part affected, locale where the injury occurred, and whether the injury is related to work.
For transportation-related injuries, NEISS-AIP collects data about whether the injury was related to traffic and the status of the motor vehicle occupant (e.g., driver, passenger, and boarding or alighting) when the injury occurred.
For assaults, NEISS-AIP collects data about the relationship of the perpetrator to the injured person (such as spouse, partner, parent, other relative, friend, stranger, or multiple perpetrators) and the context of the assault (such as altercation, robbery, sexual assault, drug-related, gang-related, and drive-by shooting).
Only part of these data elements are available currently in
WISQARS-NFI (see section 4.0 for
data elements available and their definitions). The
additional data will be provided through a third WISQARS
Nonfatal section, which is presently in planning stages.
The additional data will help further characterize and
describe nonfatal injuries in the U.S.
5.3.2 Coding Methods
Trained, onsite hospital coders took data for injury-related cases from ED records at NEISS hospitals. The coders coded all data elements, except for cause of injury. These coded data and a narrative were entered into a computer and electronically transmitted to CPSC headquarters in Bethesda, MD. NEISS-AIP quality assurance coders at CPSC headquarters received the data electronically and reviewed all of the data elements as well as a narrative (description) for each case from each of the 66 NEISS-AIP hospitals. Quality assurance coders then used the narrative and other data to assign codes for precipitating and direct causes of injury for each case.