Skip all navigation Skip to page navigation

DHHS Home | Assistance | Divisions | About DHHS | DHHS Contacts

NC Department of Health and Human Services
N.C. DPH: Chronic Disease and Injury Section
 N.C. Public Health Home
 
 

Injury and Violence Prevention Branch

Data Request Policy and Procedure

The Injury and Violence Prevention Branch hosts a large variety of static data products and dashboards on our website, and we work hard to keep our data products up to date. However, if you find that these products do not meet your needs, we are also able to process custom data requests.

Please read this page in its entirety before contacting our team to submit a custom data request. Both the considerations and guidance below have important details regarding your custom request.

After reviewing the below considerations and guidelines, please submit your custom data request via email to:

If you have questions regarding your custom data request or our available data products, please use the Injury and Violence Prevention Branch Data Support Bookings Application to reserve time to chat with one of our epidemiologists.

Considerations When Making a Data Request

  • Requests will be completed based on the date the request is received, the date the information is needed, the reason the data are being requested, and the amount of time the request will take.
  • Allow at least one month for all custom data requests. Keep in mind that this time frame may change based on the epidemiologist's workload and actual time required to fulfill the request. Requests may be completed earlier than estimated.
  • Legislative and media requests take top priority.
  • Appropriate staff will review all requests prior to delivery of the final product to ensure data quality and accuracy.
  • Major changes to an original request will be considered a new request and will be completed as described above. Major alterations include addition of variables or statistics, changes in selection criteria, or any change that requires a new data file to be accessed. Minor changes can become major changes depending on the scope of the request, for example, changing statistics by county into statistics by region.

What to Include When Making a Data Request

  • When do you need to receive the completed request? Please note standard processing times listed above. If you do not have a deadline, please include that with your request.
  • What type of injury(ies) are you interested in?
    • Injury intent (Unintentional, Self-Inflicted/Suicide, Assault/Homicide, Undetermined, and/or All Intents)?
    • Injury mechanism (Falls, Firearm, Overdose, Motor-Vehicle Traffic, Traumatic Brain Injury, Drowning, etc.)?
  • Which source of data are you interested in (i.e., death certificate, NC Violent Death Reporting System, ED Visit, or Hospitalization data)?
    • Death certificate data are available from 1999 onwards
    • Hospitalization and ED visit data are limited to 2016 onward due to the ICD-10-CM transition.
    • Data sources have different lags in reporting, so the most recent year of available data may differ. Additionally, provisional data may be available upon request. See Technical notes (page 16) for information.
  • What time frame of data do you need?
    • Are you seeking annual data, aggregate data over multiple years, monthly or quarterly data?
  • What geography are you interested in?
    • Are you seeking state-level, regional, county-level, or sub-county data? If multiple, please list.
  • How, if at all, would you like the data to be stratified? Please be advised, if numbers are too small, we may not be able to provide certain data points, or we may have to aggregate data to protect individual identities or ensure the stability of the statistic.
    • age range
    • race/ethnicity
    • sex
  • Are you hoping to receive counts, rates, percentages, etc.?
  • Do you have any deliverable format preferences (excel, csv, map, PDF, PowerPoint slide)?

Please know, someone from our team will reach out to confirm acceptance of your email as well as ask any clarifying questions.

Epidemiologist Obligations

  • An epidemiologist will contact the requestor to confirm receipt of the request, clarify any aspect of the request, and establish a completion date for the request.
  • The epidemiologist will contact the requestor if a request will not be fulfilled by the originally stated completion date and will give a new completion date.
  • The epidemiologist will ensure that all appropriate parties have the opportunity to review the final product prior to submitting the requested data to the requestor.