Question 1

What is the Violent Death Reporting System?

Accepted Answer

Established in 2002, the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) is a comprehensive, state-based public health surveillance system, overseen by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which allows states to collect comprehensive data on circumstances surrounding violent deaths. Data are collected from three primary sources: the death certificate, the coroner's report, and law enforcement reports. By combining information on a violent death from these three sources, NVDRS builds a comprehensive picture of the circumstances in a victim's life which have led to or contributed to their violent death. More information about NVDRS can be found at the following link: https://www.cdc.gov/nvdrs/about/index.htmlIn 2018, the Idaho Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics, within the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, was funded by the CDC to establish the Idaho Violent Death Reporting System (IdVDRS). The IdVDRS reports data on all violent deaths which occur annually among Idaho residents. By collecting comprehensive data on violent deaths, IdVDRS prevention partners can create tartgeted, evidence-based prevention strategies to help reduce the burden of violent deaths in Idaho.

Question 2

What is the goal of the IdVDRS?

Accepted Answer

Collect and analyze timely, high quality data on violent deaths in Idaho.Ensure IdVDRS partners, stakeholders, and the public receive high quality data to inform policy and prevention activities.To better understand factors surrounding violent deaths in the state of Idaho.

Question 3

How does IdVDRS define the cases shown on the dashboard?

Accepted Answer

The IdVDRS collects information on deaths that result from the use of force or power against oneself or another person. This definition includes homicides, suicides, deaths from legal intervention, deaths of undetermined intent, and deaths resulting from accidental discharge of a firearm.The case definition of violent deaths includes deaths receiving the following ICD-10 cause of death codes on the death certificate: X60-X84, Y87.0, U03 (suicide); X85-X99, Y00-Y09, Y87.1, U01, U02 (homicide); Y35.0-Y35.4, Y35.6, Y35.7, Y89.0 (legal intervention); W32-W34, Y86 (where firearms are the source of the injury) (accidental firearm); and Y10-Y34, Y87.2, Y89.9 (undetermined intent). Note that the defined code ranges explicitly include the sequalae or "late effects" of violent injuries (e.g., deaths occurring > 12 months after injury).

Question 4

What data makes up the IdVDRS dashboard?

Accepted Answer

Over 600 variables may be collected on a single violent death incident. General circumstance data are collected on each case, while manner-specific circumstances are collected on homicides, suicides, and deaths of undetermined intent. The data are collected from death certificates, coroner reports, and law enforcement reports.This dashboard includes both death certificate data and circumstantial data about violent deaths. Death certificate data are available for violent deaths that occurred to Idaho residents, regardless of the state or country of residence, and can be accessed on the Statistics at a Glance, Five Year Trends, Demographic Data, and Live Monthly Data tabs. Most death certificate data is provided for the last five years after an approximately one-year closeout period to allow death certificate data to stabilize and ensure data quality. However, basic count data on the Live Monthly Data tab are published for the most recent calendar month. Circumstantial data from coroner and law enforcement reports are available for violent deaths where the injury occurred in Idaho and can be accessed on the Circumstantial Data tab. Circumstantial data are made available to IdVDRS 18 months after the end of a calendar year to allow time for coroners and law enforcement to complete all necessary investigations, which means that the most recent available year of circumstantial data lags behind death certificate data by one year.It is critical to understand that death certificate data and circumstantial data are not always both available for all violent deaths. There are violent deaths with death certificate data but no circumstantial data and vice versa. Specifically, circumstantial data from coroner and law enforcement reports are not always available for deaths to Idaho residents that meet the IdVDRS case definition due to timing of reporting and other logistical factors. In contrast, data from coroner and law enforcement reports may be available for violent deaths where the injury occurred in Idaho to a non-Idaho resident without meeting Idaho residence criteria for IdVDRS reporting of death certificate data.All IdVDRS death certificate data are housed in the Idaho Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics (BVRHS) live database, which is subject to change at any time if death certificates are amended. In addition, fixed datasets are created for certain statistical reports, in which data are frozen after a specific cut-off date and will not reflect updates from amendments. All IdVDRS death certificate data published on this dashboard are sourced from the BVRHS live database, which means that statistics published on this dashboard may differ from previously published statistics and from statistics based on a fixed dataset. All circumstantial data published on this dashboard are based on a fixed dataset provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and are not subject to change.

Question 5

What limitations are there to using data from NVDRS and IdVDRS?

Accepted Answer

Circumstances are not known or available for all cases, which may be due to sparse or preliminary reporting in the source documents.Toxicology testing is not performed on all decedents, and testing practices may vary by state.Mental and physical health variables are often based on reporting of people who knew the victim, rather than health care professionals or official medical records.Some variables have high levels of missing data.More information about NVDRS, including additional analytic resources can be found here: https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/datasources/nvdrs/resources.html

Idaho Violent Death Reporting System

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Additional Population Health Surveillance System Dashboards

What is the Violent Death Reporting System?

What is the goal of the IdVDRS?

How does IdVDRS define the cases shown on the dashboard?

What data makes up the IdVDRS dashboard?

What limitations are there to using data from NVDRS and IdVDRS?

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