Emergency department surveillance for weapon-related injuries--Massachusetts, November 1993-April 1994.

During 1992, a total of 37,776 firearm-related deaths occurred in the United States (1), and in 1991, firearm-related deaths were the leading or second leading cause of injury death in 15 states (2). Because of limitations in data, however, the epidemiology of nonfatal firearm- and other weapon-related injuries has not been well characterized. To improve characterization of these problems, in 1989, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) began a pilot project to develop the first emergency-department-based statewide Weapon-Related Injury Surveillance System (WRISS) in the United States (3). All 85 hospital emergency departments in Massachusetts (1990 population: 6,016,425) now participate in this system. This report summarizes results from the first 6 months of statewide reporting (November 1993-April 1994), including previously unavailable statewide morbidity data on gunshot and stabbing injuries.