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1.0 Tutorial: 
A step-by-step introduction to using WISQARS Fatal

2.0 About Mortality (Fatal Injury) Reports: 
An overview of mortality reports and the options offered

3.0 About Leading Causes of Death Reports:
An overview of leading causes of death reports and the options offered

4.0 About Years of Potential Life Lost Reports (YPLL):
An overview of years of potential life lost reports and the options offered

5.0 Definitions of Report Data Elements:
Thorough definitions of the data elements mentioned in the report request options and in the reports themselves

6.0 Data Sources:
Further explanation of the purpose of and data sources for WISQARS Fatal and the process of compiling the data

7.0 Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to common questions about WISQARS Fatal.

8.0 References:
References used within this help file.

You can request a report to list deaths by

• Cause (mechanism) and intent (manner) of injury 
• Census region / state of residence 
• Race
• Hispanic origin
• Sex 
• Age
• Year(s) of report.

In addition, the reports offer advanced options of 

• Output groups 
• Age adjusting
• Age selection.

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Leading causes of death reports use the annual mortality data compiled by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to compute the leading causes of death in the United States. These tables help show the impact of a particular cause of death and highlight the role that injuries play in U.S. mortality.  Leading causes of death reports display the major causes of death from greatest to least.  The reports show which causes result in the most deaths.  The colored boxes in the leading causes of death report highlight injury deaths, and show the number of injury deaths by underlying-cause-of-death International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes. Simply click on a colored box  to view Injury deaths by individual ICD codes; then follow the instructions below the table title.  For more information, see Data Sources.

You can request a leading cause of death report by

• Census region / state of residence,
• Race,
• Hispanic origin,
• Sex,
• Year(s) of report, or
• Number of causes.

In addition, the advanced options allow you to 

• Format the report by age group; 
• Request statistics for 
  • leading causes of death (and ICD code detail),
  • leading causes of injury death 
  • unintentional causes of injury death
  • violence-related causes of injury death
• Choose the number of causes reported for each age group;
• Download data from a chart or graph into a spreadsheet;
• Capture and transfer a chart or graph into Power Point or other software.
   

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4.0 Years of Potential Life Lost (YPLL) Reports - Overview

For a given cause category, WISQARS Fatal calculates the years lost before age 65 (YPLL-65) through two steps.  First, the system subtracts each deceased person's age at death from 65.   Next, the system adds the results -- the "years lost"-- for all deceased people in that category.  WISQARS Fatal allows you to change the standard age from 65 to other ages in five-year increments up to age 85 (e.g., 70, 75, 80, 85).

WISQARS Years of Potential Life Lost Reports allow you to request YPLL measures by

• Census region / state of residence
• Race
• Hispanic origin
• Sex
• Year
• Calculate YPLL from age (offers choice of standard ages). 

• Statistic reported -- offers choice among these YPLL-related statistics:
  • YPLLs
  • number of deaths 
  • crude YPLL rate per 100,000 population
  • age-adjusted YPLL rate per 100,000 population
• Report subject -- statistics for  
  • leading causes of death 
  • leading causes of injury death, 
  • a specific cause (mechanism) and intent (manner) of injury death
• Number of causes (if report subject is leading causes of death or of injury death)
• Standard year (for age-adjusting).

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