Skip directly to search Skip directly to A to Z list Skip directly to navigation Skip directly to page options Skip directly to site content

WISQARS Tutorials: Fatal Injury Mapping, Fatal Injury Reports, Leading Causes of Death, and Years of Potential Life Lost

About the Tutorials

Tips on How to Use the Tutorials

  1. The link to the tutorials can be found from the main WISQARS page here: http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars
    And the direct URL to the tutorials, which can be bookmarked in your browser, is: http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/fatal_help/tutorial.html
  2. Note that throughout the tutorials, certain terms are underlined and in blue text. When clicked, you will be sent to a page with definitions or further information about the terms. Simply hit ‘Back’ on your browser to return to the tutorial.
  3. Scan the Table of Contents within each tutorial for the lessons it includes.
  4. Navigate directly through any portion of the tutorials by selecting from the Table of Contents
  5. Throughout the tutorials, we have used examples specific to American Indian/Alaska Native data. But the methods within the guide apply throughout the entire WISQARS site.

Tips on How to Operate WISQARS Reports


  1. For smaller demographic subsets such as American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN), use a wider year range to get more stable results.
  2. For county level results, choose Fatal Injury Mapping. Follow the instructions to save the data.
  3. For Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) results, choose Fatal Injury Mapping.

Tips on How to Sort and View WISQARS Data


  1. Leading Causes of Death shows the total number of deaths and the percentages. In Leading Causes of Death, follow these instructions after viewing the results: Click on any colored box for detailed causes and ICD codes. Click on any age group for percentages.
  2. In Fatal Injury Reports, choose to sort results by category (age, age group, race, sex and state year).
  3. Within the Fatal Injury Report module, results can be sorted and output by a number of demographic or other criteria. Under Advanced Options, define output groups such as age, sex, year, etc., or a combination of criteria.

Top