U.S. Emergency Department Treated Nonfatal Injuries 2023

National incidence estimates for approximately 700,000 nonfatal injury and poisoning cases treated in U.S. hospital emergency departments annually. It is collected from a stratified probability sample of hospitals and includes variables such as age, principal diagnosis, body part affected, and injury intent. The data is managed by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and the CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.

Use Cases

• Analyze the distribution of principal diagnosis and primary body part affected across different age groups to identify common injury patterns.
• Monitor trends in injury intent (e.g., unintentional, assault, self-harm) and external cause (e.g., falls, motor vehicle) over time for public health surveillance.
• Investigate the relationship between consumer products involved and patient disposition at ED discharge (e.g., hospitalized, treated and released).
• Assess work-relatedness of injuries by cross-referencing the locale where the injury occurred and the narrative description of circumstances.

Strengths

• Approximately 700,000 cases are collected annually, providing a substantial sample for national estimates.
• Data is sourced from a stratified probability sample of U.S. hospitals, designed to be nationally representative.
• Includes detailed case variables such as injury narrative, ICD-10-CM coded external cause, and intent, enabling multifaceted analysis.

Limitations

• The dataset covers only nonfatal injuries treated in emergency departments, excluding fatalities, injuries treated elsewhere, or unreported cases.
• As a sample, estimates are subject to sampling error, and data may not be granular enough for highly localized analyses.
• Specific data quality metrics, row counts, column definitions, and file formats are not provided in the input.

Provenance

Source

United States Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.

Collection Method

Data obtained from a stratified probability sample of U.S. hospitals with emergency departments, selected by size and type (very large, large, medium, small, children's).

Time Range

January through December 2023.

Freshness

Data is released annually; the described version covers January through December 2023.

Geography

United States and its territories.