Injury Compare Module Help

The WISQARS fatal injury compare modules are used to compare fatal data using two methods:

• Users can compare up to 3 injury-related causes of death by intent and mechanism with the Fatal Injury Compare: Causes of Death module.
• Users can compare differences in injury-related causes of death between up to 3 states with the Fatal Injury Compare: States module.

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

Getting Started

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

The Data Filters screen will allow you to make some key decisions about the data you want to view—such as data years, and demographic variables—to create visualizations. Below is a list of the data options available for both compare modules.

Data Filter: Selected Causes of Death (Intent + Mechanism) or State for Comparison

Only available for Fatal Injury Compare: Causes of Death

This section allows you to compare up to 3 causes of death by selecting the Intent and Mechanism for each.

Select one of the intents (e.g., all intents, unintentional, violence-related) and mechanisms (e.g., all injury, fall, firearm) available and click the "Add Cause of Death" button to create the first compare category. This can be done 2 to 3 times depending on how many causes of death you would like to compare.

Only available for Fatal Injury Compare: States

From the dropdown menu under "state," you can choose the 2 to 3 different states you want to compare. You can also compare state to national data.

Data Filters: Year and Race Options

This option allows you to request fatal injury visualizations by several 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.

Data Filters: Intent

This option allows you to request visualizations 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.

You 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

Data Filters: Mechanism

This option allows you to request fatal injury visualizations 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.

You can select the cause or mechanism of injury (e.g., firearm, poisoning) from the dropdown menu under "Mechanism". 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 you to run more detailed queries.

Data Filters: Data Years

You can select the years of fatal injury data you want to explore from the dropdown menu under "Data Years". WISQARS compare modules have data going back to 2001. The default setting is the most recent data year available.

If you select one of the Single Race Categories under "Year and Race Options," data is only available for years 2018-present.

Data Filters: Geography

Only available for Fatal Injury Compare: Causes of Death

From the dropdown menu under "geography," users can request to compare causes of death at the national, regional, and state levels.

Data Filters: Years of Potential Life Lost (YPLL)

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" 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

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