Non-research Determination (IRB Approval is Not Required)

Project Determination
National Violent Death Reporting System Data Management Plan
Project ID:

0900f3eb81a5e1d9

Accession #:

NCIPC-MST-11/7/19 -5e1d9

Project Contact:

Janet Blair

Organization:

NCIPC/DVP/SB

Status:

Pending Clearance : Amendment

Intended Use:

Project Determination

Estimated Start Date:

11/07/19

Estimated Completion Date:

12/03/29

CDC/ATSDR HRPO/IRB Protocol#:
OMB Control#:

0920-0607

Description
Priority
Standard

Date Needed
10/28/21

Determination Start Date
10/22/21

Description
The National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) is a state-based surveillance system that links data from death certificates, coroners/medical examiners
(including toxicology) and law enforcement. NVDRS collects information about homicides, suicides, deaths by legal intervention-excluding executions, deaths of
undetermined intent, and unintentional firearm-related injury deaths.

Data from NVDRS enables CDC, VDRS funding recipients, and researchers to establish the

magnitude of the problem and the public health burden, discern epidemiologic characteristics, define which population groups are most affected, and identify
circumstances (events that preceded or were determined to be related to a victim??s death).

IMS/CIO/Epi-Aid/Chemical Exposure Submission
No

IMS Activation Name
Not selected

Select the primary priority of the project
Not selected

Select the secondary priority(s) of the project
Not selected

Select the task force associated with the response
Not selected

CIO Emergency Response Name
Not selected

Epi-Aid Name
Not selected

Assessment of Chemical Exposure Name
Not selected

Goals/Purpose
CDC provides guidance to funded VDRS recipients to ensure the data are collected in a standardized manner. Trained abstractors enter data into an encrypted
web-based system. Some of the information from the C/ME and LE reports is put into the system in narrative format, and provides a detailed description of the
events that preceded or were known to contribute to the violent death.

Information abstracted into the system is de-identified at the local VDRS program level.

CDC combines all VDRS data into a multi-state database that informs national stakeholders. NVDRS summary data from 2003 to 2016 are available through CDC’s
WISQARS™ (Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System), an interactive, online database available to the public. NVDRS WISQARS™ can be
accessed at: http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/nvdrs.html. NVDRS data are also available through the NVDRS Restricted Access Dataset (RAD) process. The
NVDRS RAD is a de-identified, multi-state data set that includes select variables. The data set is available to researchers who meet specific criteria. CDC and the
Veterans Health Administration (VHA) will also link NVDRS data with VHA data to share Veteran status and VHA utilization for deceased individuals. In the past,
NVDRS data have been linked to Department of Defense Suicide Event Reports (DoDSERs). The linkage with DoDSER is planned to occur annually in the future.
CDC plans to propose to expand this line of work by linking NVDRS data to VHA data. This linkage project will be ongoing.

The purpose of NVDRS is to collect,

analyze, and disseminate accurate, timely, and comprehensive surveillance data on all violent deaths in funded jurisdictions using CDC guidelines and the CDC
web-based data entry system. Surveillance data regarding violent deaths are collected to enable CDC, VDRS funding recipients and researchers to establish the
magnitude of the problem and the public health burden, discern epidemiologic characteristics, define which population groups are most affected, and identify
circumstances (events that preceded or were determined to be related to a victim’s death) including common circumstances associated with violent deaths of a
certain type (e.g., intimate partner violence). State and local violence prevention practitioners also use the data to inform, develop, and guide prevention
programs, policies, and assist groups in selecting and targeting violence prevention efforts and supporting evaluations of violence prevention activities.

Objective
Violence is a major public health problem. Over 66,000 people died violently in the U.S. in 2017. These violent deaths included 47,173 suicides and 19,510
homicides. Violent deaths have been estimated to cost more than $77 billion in medical care and lost productivity (Injury Classification Scheme: Mechanism by
Intent of Injury, NCHS Vital Statistics System for numbers of deaths, https://wisqars.cdc.gov:8443/costT/). Violence inflicts a substantial toll on individuals,
families, and communities throughout the US. However, violence is preventable. Interventions, strategies, and policies are increasingly available that can stop
violence before it happens. In order to prevent violence, we must first know the facts about violent deaths. NVDRS was developed to provide better information
about the prevalence and circumstance of violent deaths in the United States to inform prevention strategies.

In 2003, CDC began implementing the National

Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS, OMB No. 0920-0607). NVDRS is a state-based surveillance system that compiles data from 3 required sources: death
certificates (DC), coroner/medical examiner (C/ME) reports (including toxicology), and law enforcement (LE) reports. NVDRS collects information about who dies
violently, where victims are killed, when they are killed, and what factors were perceived to contribute to or precipitate the death, in order to describe the
epidemiology of violent deaths. A violent death is defined as a death resulting from the intentional use of physical force or power (e.g., threats or intimidation)
against oneself, another person, or against a group or community. Violent deaths include homicides, suicides, and legal intervention deaths (i.e., those occurring
when law enforcement exerts deadly force while acting in the line of duty) excluding legal executions. The term “legal intervention” is a classification from ICD-10
[Y-35.0] and does not denote the lawfulness or legality of the circumstances surrounding the death. In addition, VDRS recipients are required to collect information
about unintentional firearm-related injury deaths (i.e., incidents in which the person causing the injury did not intend to discharge the firearm) and deaths where
the intent cannot be determined ("deaths of undetermined intent ") but where there is evidence that force was used.

Does this project include interventions, services, or policy change work aimed at improving the health of groups who have been
excluded or marginalized and/or decreasing disparities?
Yes

Project does not incorporate elements of health equity science
Not selected

Measuring Disparities
Yes

Studying Social Determinants of Health (SDOH)
Not selected

Assessing Impact
Not selected

Methods to Improve Health Equity Research and Practice
Not selected

Other
Not selected

Activities or Tasks
Secondary Data or Specimen Analysis

Target Population to be Included/Represented
General US Population

Tags/Keywords
Homicide; Suicide; undetermined intent deaths; unintentional firearm-related injury deaths; legal intervention deaths

CDC's Role
CDC employees or agents will obtain or use anonymous or unlinked data or biological specimens; CDC employees will provide substantial technical assistance or
oversight; CDC is providing funding

Method Categories
Surveillance Support; Technical Assistance

Methods
NVDRS collects information about who dies violently, where victims are killed, when they are killed, and what factors were perceived to contribute to or precipitate
the death, in order to describe the epidemiology of violent deaths. A violent death is defined as a death resulting from the intentional use of physical force or power
(e.g., threats or intimidation) against oneself, another person, or against a group or community. Violent deaths include homicides, suicides, and legal intervention
deaths (i.e., those occurring when law enforcement exerts deadly force while acting in the line of duty) excluding legal executions. The term “legal intervention” is
a classification from ICD-10 [Y-35.0] and does not denote the lawfulness or legality of the circumstances surrounding the death. In addition, VDRS recipients are
required to collect information about unintentional firearm-related injury deaths (i.e., incidents in which the person causing the injury did not intend to discharge
the firearm) and deaths where the intent cannot be determined ("deaths of undetermined intent ") but where there is evidence that force was used.
The NVDRS web-based system consists of tabs: Demographics, Injury and Death, Circumstances, Weapon(s), Suspect(s), Toxicology, Overdose, Intimate Partner
Violence module (optional), Child Fatality Review module (optional). Two new modules are being added to the system. These are a School Associated Violent Death
(SAVD) module, due to planned dissolution of the SAVD Surveillance System (SAVD-SS) (OMB# 0920-0604). This module will collect in-depth contextual
information for SAVD’s and help inform efforts to prevent fatal school violence. The second module is a Public Safety Officer Suicide module to collect in-depth
contextual information to help inform and develop programs to prevent suicide among this population.

CDC provides guidance to funded VDRS recipients to

ensure the data are collected in a standardized manner. Trained abstractors enter data into an encrypted web-based system. Some of the information from the
C/ME and LE reports is put into the system in narrative format, and provides a detailed description of the events that preceded or were known to contribute to the
violent death.

Information abstracted into the system is de-identified at the local VDRS program level. CDC combines all VDRS data into a multi-state database

that informs national stakeholders. NVDRS summary data from 2003 to 2016 are available through CDC’s WISQARS™ (Web-based Injury Statistics Query and
Reporting System), an interactive, online database available to the public. NVDRS WISQARS™ can be accessed at: http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/nvdrs.html.
NVDRS data are also available through the NVDRS Restricted Access Dataset (RAD) process. The NVDRS RAD is a de-identified, multi-state data set that includes
select variables. The data set is available to researchers who meet specific criteria. CDC and the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) will also link NVDRS data
with VHA data to share Veteran status and VHA utilization for deceased individuals. In the past, NVDRS data have been linked to Department of Defense Suicide
Event Reports (DoDSERs). The linkage with DoDSER is planned to occur annually in the future. CDC plans to propose to expand this line of work by linking
NVDRS data to VHA data. This linkage project will be ongoing.

Collection of Info, Data, or Bio specimens

The National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) is a state-based surveillance system that links data from death certificates, coroners/medical examiners
(including toxicology) and law enforcement. NVDRS collects information about homicides, suicides, deaths by legal intervention-excluding executions, deaths of
undetermined intent, and unintentional firearm-related injury deaths.

Data from NVDRS enables CDC, VDRS funding recipients, and researchers to establish the

magnitude of the problem and the public health burden, discern epidemiologic characteristics, define which population groups are most affected, and identify
circumstances (events that preceded or were determined to be related to a victim’s death).

Expected Use of Findings/Results and their impact
The purpose of NVDRS is to collect, analyze, and disseminate accurate, timely, and comprehensive surveillance data on all violent deaths in funded jurisdictions
using CDC guidelines and the CDC web-based data entry system. Surveillance data regarding violent deaths are collected to enable CDC, VDRS funding recipients
and researchers to establish the magnitude of the problem and the public health burden, discern epidemiologic characteristics, define which population groups are
most affected, and identify circumstances (events that preceded or were determined to be related to a victim’s death) including common circumstances associated
with violent deaths of a certain type (e.g., intimate partner violence). State and local violence prevention practitioners also use the data to inform, develop, and
guide prevention programs, policies, and assist groups in selecting and targeting violence prevention efforts and supporting evaluations of violence prevention
activities. It is important to note that we have applied for an Assurance of Confidentiality for NVDRS.

Could Individuals potentially be identified based on Information Collected?
Yes

Will PII be captured (including coded data)?
No

Does CDC have access to the Identifiers (including coded data)?
No

Is this project covered by an Assurance of Confidentiality?
No

Does this activity meet the criteria for a Certificate of Confidentiality (CoC)?
No

Is there a formal written agreement prohibiting the release of identifiers?
No

Funding
Funding Type

Funding Title

Funding #

Original Fiscal
Year

# of Years
of Award

CDC Cooperative

Collecting Violent Death Information Using

CDC-RFA-CE16-1607

2016

5

Agreement

the National Violent Death Reporting System
CDC-RFA-CE14-1402

2014

5

CDC-RFA-CE19-1905

2019

3

CDC-RFA-CE18-1804

2018

5

(NVDRS) 2016
CDC Cooperative

Collecting Violent Death Information Using

Agreement

the National Violent Death Reporting System
(NVDRS)

CDC Cooperative

Collecting Violent Death Information Using

Agreement

the National Violent Death Reporting System
(NVDRS) 2019

CDC Cooperative

Collecting Violent Death Information Using

Agreement

the National Violent Death Reporting System
(NVDRS) 2018

HSC Review
Regulation and Policy
Do you anticipate this project will be submitted to the IRB office
No

Institutions
Institution

FWA #

FWA Exp.
Date

IRB Title

IRB Exp. Date

Funding #

Budget
Amount

Staff
Staff Member

SIQT Exp.
Date

Craig Bryant

07/07/2023

Citi
Biomedical
Exp. Date

Citi Social
and
Behavioral
Exp. Date

Citi Good
Clinical Exp.
Date

Staff Role

Email

Phone #

Organization/
Institution

Technical

[email protected]

770-488-7

MORTALITY

Monitor

ov

SURVEILLANCE
TEAM

Janet Blair

09/02/2023

12/18/2021

Principal

zud5@cdc.

770-488-

SURVEILLANCE

Investigator

gov

0049

BRANCH

DMP
Proposed Data Collection Start Date

01/01/03

Proposed Data Collection End Date

12/31/29

Proposed Public Access Level

Restricted

Data Use Type

Data Sharing Agreement

Data Use Type Data Use Type URL

\\cdc.gov\project\CCEHIP_NCIPC_DVP\DVPShare\1a_NVDRS_scientists\RAD\RAD_Proposal_Documents\NVDRS_RAD_Data Sharing
Agreement_updates_July_2016.pdf

Data Use Contact

[email protected]

Public Access justification

Given the local and often national attention that some violent deaths attract, as well as the sensitive
nature of the subject matter, NVDRS requires special measures to protect the individuals,
institutions and VDRS recipients and further safeguard the information collected. Although
information abstracted into the system is de-identified at the local VDRS program level and VDRS
recipients do not enter direct personal identifiers into the NVDRS web-based system , it is
potentially possible for someone to use the entered data to link with external information to identify
an individual decedent, family members, or perpetrators. This is particularly problematic given the
high profile nature and media coverage of some of these cases (e.g., homicides with multiple
victims or homicide followed by suicide). Given the sensitive nature of the data in NVDRS (e.g.,
specific circumstances, law enforcement reports, substance use, mental health diagnoses, crime and
criminal activity, and suspect information) and the potential for identification if the data are used

inappropriately, access is limited to 1. Pre-defined queries using the WISQARS platform and 2.
Researchers who have completed the RAD review application process.

How Access Will Be Provided for Data

The NVDRS RAD review committee consists of a panel of scientific and data analysis experts within
CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Upon receipt of the proposal package, a
committee will review the submission to ensure it meets the requirements established to protect the
confidentiality of the data. In each proposal, the review committee will look for the following
criteria: •Scientific and technical feasibility of the study •Qualifications of all people who will have
access to the data •Consistency between requested data and study goals •Description of any
additional data that will be linked to NVDRS RAD data •Anticipated publications or other
dissemination of results •Risk of disclosure of restricted information •Protections in place to
maintain confidentiality of the data •A legitimate public health purpose will be served by use of the
data The committee reviews proposals as they are received, and typically responds within 3-4
weeks. An incomplete proposal package will be returned upon receipt. The review of complex
projects that require extensive communication between NVDRS staff and the applicants may take
longer to complete. When a proposal is approved, the principal investigator will be notified by email
and will receive the data via FTP (file transfer protocol). Investigators are permitted to conduct only
those analyses that have received approval. RAD requesters can request a copy of and submit a
completed amendment form to [email protected] to add data years, to request permissions for
new investigators/staff that will be added to an approved project, and to request permission to
modify the scope of the study. Requests to add data years to an existing project that has been
approved will be expedited; in this case, a committee review is not required. CDC reserves the right
to deny or terminate any project at any time when it deems an investigator’s/researcher’s actions
may compromise confidentiality or ethical standards of behavior in a research environment. Failure
to comply will result in the cancellation of the research activity and exclusion from future research
activities using the NVDRS RAD.

Plans for archival and long-term preservation of

Records will be kept according to the CDC Records Retention Schedules. All CDC Records Control

the data

Schedules are media neutral and therefore are applicable to all records regardless of format.
Records having met their records retention schedule will be disposed of appropriately. Records may
be kept longer for programmatic purposes.

Spatiality (Geographic Location)
Country

State/Province

County/Region

Puerto Rico
United States

Determinations
Determination

Justification

Completed

Entered By & Role

HSC:

Not Research / Other

12/13/19

Angel_Karen C. (idy6) CIO HSC

12/13/19

Angel_Karen C. (idy6) OMB / PRA

12/13/19

Zirger_Jeffrey (wtj5) ICRO Reviewer

Does NOT Require HRPO
Review

45 CFR 46.102(l)

Other - Surveillance System
PRA:
PRA Applies
ICRO:
Returned with No Decision