Welcome to the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System
For more than 45 years, the CPSC has operated a statistically valid injury surveillance and follow-back system known as the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS). The primary purpose of NEISS is to collect data on consumer product-related injuries occurring in the United States. CPSC uses these data to produce nationwide estimates of product-related injuries.
Since the year 2000, when CPSC initiated an expansion of the system to collect data on all injuries, NEISS has become an important public health research tool, not just for CPSC, but also for researchers and consumers throughout the United States and around the world.
NEISS: Frequently Asked Questions
New for 2019 Treatment Dates
In 2018, NEISS had its first major update since the All Injury Program expansion. The update included the addition of seven new variables: Diagnosis_2, Other_Diagnosis_2, and Body_Part_2, Product_3, Ethnicity, Alcohol_Involved, and Drug_Involved. In addition to the new variables, one Narrative text variable replaced the two former short Narrative variables, increasing the maximum length of the Narrative from 142 to 400 characters. The changes were effective starting January 1, 2019.
Several product code changes also went into effect starting January 1, 2019 (listed below). For a complete history of product code changes, refer to the Product Code Comparability Table.
0474 Tableware and accessories (excluding drinking glasses, cups, and mugs): title changed in 2019 to exclude cups and mugs
0478 Drinking glasses, cups, and mugs: title changed in 2019 to include cups and mugs
1527 Baby carriers or slings (backpacks): discontinued and replaced with 1560, 1561, and 1562
1560 Baby slings and wraps: previously coded as 1527
1561 Framed baby carriers (carried on back): previously coded as 1527
1562 Other soft baby carriers: previously coded as 1527
NEISS Probability Samples
NEISS is based on a nationally representative probability sample of hospitals in the U.S. and its territories.
Each participating NEISS hospital reports patient information for every emergency department visit associated with a consumer product or a poisoning to a child younger than five years of age. The total number of product-related hospital emergency department visits nationwide can be estimated from the sample of cases reported in the NEISS.
Ways to Access NEISS Data
NEISS data from the most recent 20 years are available online. NEISS data for the most recent calendar year of treatment dates generally become available in April of the following year.
Annual NEISS Data Highlights
CPSC staff produces annual NEISS Data Highlights reports that summarize injury data by major product groups, product subgroups, age, and sex. These reports are published in May and are a good entry point to understanding the kind of data available through NEISS.
2019 NEISS Data Highlights: Overview – All Products
2019 NEISS Data Highlights: Top 20 Injury Estimates By Sex
2019 NEISS Data Highlights: Top 20 Injury Estimates By Age
2019 NEISS Data Highlights: Top 20 Injury Estimates By Sex and Age
Annual NEISS Datasets
Each NEISS dataset contains a complete year of data, spanning treatment dates January 1 - December 31. The datasets are the easiest way to get a comprehensive look at all product-related emergency department visits contained in the NEISS for a given year.
Each dataset contains brief narratives describing NEISS incident scenarios. These narratives can be used to extract data that are not captured by specific product codes within NEISS. For example, within NEISS there are product codes for “bicycles”, but there is no code for “eating”. In order to determine a national estimate of people who were injured on their bicycle while eating, you would need to download a dataset and search bicycle incident narratives for instances of “eating”.
NEISS Estimates Query Builder
Use the NEISS Query Builder to view and download national product injury estimates based on customized search criteria.
Instructions for Using the NEISS Estimates Query Builder