DOI: 10.3886/icpsr38923.v1
title: Firearm Injury Surveillance Study, 1993-2021
title: Version 1

description: These data were collected using the National Electronic
Injury Surveillance System (NEISS), the primary data system of the
United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). CPSC began
operating NEISS in 1972 to monitor product-related injuries treated in
United States hospital emergency departments (EDs). In June 1992, the
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC), within the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, established an interagency
agreement with CPSC to begin collecting data on nonfatal
firearm-related injuries in order to monitor the incidents and the
characteristics of persons with nonfatal firearm-related injuries
treated in United States hospital EDs over time. This dataset
represents all nonfatal firearm-related injuries (i.e., injuries
associated with powder-charged guns) and all nonfatal BB and pellet
gun-related injuries reported through NEISS from 1993 through
2021. The cases consist of initial ED visits for treatment of the
injuries. Cases were reported even if the patients subsequently died.
Secondary visits and transfers from other hospitals were excluded.
Information is available on injury diagnosis, firearm type, use of
drugs or alcohol, criminal incident, and locale of the
incident. Demographic information includes age, sex, and race of the
injured person.
description: A weight variable (WT_C) is present in the data. Each sample weight (WT_C)
represents the inverse of the probability of selection of the case.
These sample weights have been rounded off to the nearest whole number.
The sample weights are computed monthly and are adjusted for non-response.
The sample weights also have a post-stratification adjustment to account
for changes in the annual number of emergency department visits in U.S. hospitals.
The sum of these weights over the group or subgroup of interest will provide
national estimates of injured persons treated in US hospital EDs.
description: The sample design of NEISS is a stratified, probability
sample of all United States hospitals that had at least six beds and provided 24-hour emergency services. There were four hospital-sized strata (defined as very large, large, medium, and small, based on the number of annual ED visits) and one children's hospital stratum. From 1993 through 1996, there were 91 NEISS hospital EDs in the sample. In
1997, the sampling frame was updated so that in 1997 through 1999 the sample included 101 NEISS hospital EDs. In 2000-2001, one NEISS hospital dropped out of the system, so there were 100 NEISS hospital EDs in the sample. In 2002, another hospital dropped out of the system, so there were 99 NEISS hospital EDs in the sampling frame. In 1997, CPSC collected firearm-related cases using the "old" and "new"
NEISS hospital samples for a nine-month period. This dataset includes data from the "new" sample. The overlapping "old" sample is not included. Comparisons of weighted estimates based on the "old" and "new" samples indicated a difference of about 1 percent in the overall
national estimate using these samples. The characteristics of firearm-related cases from these two overlapping samples were also very similar.
description: Datasets: 
DS1: Firearm Injury Surveillance Study, 1993-2021
description: United States hospitals providing emergency services.
description: computer-assisted self interview (CASI); self-enumerated questionnaireBeginning with the 2020 data, cases with a disposition of "DOA" were removed from the dataset. Previous study years include these cases; however, they were not included in the surveillance tables.