Sponsors

US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Division of Hazard and Injury Data Systems and CDC - National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.

Mode of Administration

The primary purpose of NEISS has been to provide timely data on consumer product-related injuries occurring in the U.S. In the July 2000, the NEISS was expanded to collect data on all injuries. This expanded system is called the NEISS All Injury Program (NEISS-AIP).

NEISS injury data are gathered from the emergency departments of 100 hospitals selected as a probability sample of all 5,300+ U.S. hospitals with emergency departments (the NEISS-AIP uses a sub-sample of 66 emergency departments). At the end of each day, a NEISS hospital coordinator reviews all ED records for the day, selecting those that meet the (current) criteria for inclusion in NEISS. The NEISS coordinator abstracts pertinent data, enters the data into a computer, and transmits the information to the CPSC.

Survey Sample Design

NEISS-AIP data were collected from 66 of the 100 NEISS hospitals, which were selected as a stratified probability sample of all hospitals in the United States and its territories with a minimum of six beds and a 24-hour emergency department (ED). The 66 NEISS-AIP hospitals are a nationally representative sample of U.S. hospital EDs. NEISS-AIP hospitals provide data on approximately 600,000 injury- and consumer product-related ED cases each year. Data from these cases are weighted by the inverse of the probability of selection to provide national estimates.

Response Rates

Hospital audits conducted by CPSC indicate that NEISS hospital coders identify approximately 90% of all reportable cases .

Primary Survey Content

Nonfatal injuries and poisonings were defined as bodily harm resulting from acute exposure to an external force or substance (i.e., mechanical, thermal, electrical, chemical, or radiant) and near drowning, including unintentional and violence-related causes. Cases were excluded if 1) the principal diagnosis was an illness, pain only, psychological harm (e.g., anxiety and depression) only, contact dermatitis associated with exposure to consumer products (e.g., body lotions, detergents, and diapers) and plants (e.g., poison ivy), or unknown; or 2) the ED visit was for adverse effects of therapeutic drugs or of surgical and medical care.

Population Targeted

All first visits to a sample hospital emergency department for persons with a qualifying injury (see Notes).

Demographic Data

Patient’s age, gender, race, and ethnicity.

Years Collected

1970 to present.

Schedule

Daily data collection from reporting hospitals.

Geographic Estimates

National.

Notes

All injuries were classified for intent of injury (i.e., unintentional, assault, self harm, and legal intervention) and mechanism of injury (i.e., fall, struck by/against, motor-vehicle-occupant--related incident, cut/pierce, and fire/burn). Unintentional included unintended injuries and injuries in which no indication of intent to harm was documented in the ED record. Assault included suspected and confirmed injuries from interpersonal violent events (e.g., injuries to victims, innocent bystanders, police, and perpetrators). Self harm included suspected and confirmed intentionally self-inflicted injuries. Legal intervention included injuries inflicted by police or other legal authorities (e.g., security guards) while acting in the line of duty. The mechanism of injury represents the precipitating mechanism that initiated the chain of events leading to the injury, which is similar to the underlying cause for injury-related death. Mechanisms of injury were classified by trained coders into recommended major external cause-of-injury groupings using definitions consistent with International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modifications (ICD-9-CM) external cause coding guidelines. Because of limited resources, ICD-9-CM external cause-of-injury codes were not assigned.

Contact Information

Data system homepage (CPSC):
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/3002.html

Data system phone: 301-504-0539

Agency homepage:
http://www.cpsc.gov

Agency phone:301-504-0424

References

US Consumer Product Safety Commission. The NEISS sample: design and implementation. In: Kessler E, Schroeder T, eds. Washington, DC: US Consumer Product Safety Commission, 2000.

US Consumer Product Safety Commission. NEISS coding manual 2000. Washington, DC: US Consumer Product Safety Commission, 2000.

CDC. A training module for coding mechanism and intent of injury for the NEISS All Injury Program. In: Annest JL, Pogostin CL, eds. Atlanta, Georgia: US Department of Health and Human Services, CDC, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, 2000.

Quinlan KP, Thompson MP, Annest JL, et al. Expanding the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System to monitor all nonfatal injuries treated in US hospital emergency departments. Annals Emerg Med 1999;34:637-645.