National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS)

A complete picture of violent death

Violence affects people of all ages and life circumstances and can cause tremendous physical, emotional, and financial pain and suffering.

The Utah Violence Death Reporting System is the only comprehensive surveillance system that helps us know the “who, when, where, and how” of violent deaths and provides insights about “why” these deaths happen. The system links records from many sources (medical examiner reports, death certificates, law enforcement reports) into an anonymous database. It’s part of a national public health surveillance system called the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). All 50 states in the U.S., as well as Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, participate in the NVDRS.

These violent deaths include:

  • Suicides
  • Homicides
  • Unintentional firearm deaths
  • Legal intervention deaths

  • Deaths of undetermined intent that meet CDC guidelines

NVDRS can:

  • Inform decision-makers and program planners about violent deaths' magnitude, trends, and characteristics.
  • Educate your community about circumstances contributing to violence in your county, state, or territory.
  • Develop and tailor violence prevention efforts to maximize benefits.
  • Evaluate the impact of prevention programs and strategies.

Primary sources

We collect information about a violent death from four primary sources. This information is then entered into the NVDRS.
  • Death certificates
  • Law enforcement reports
  • Medical examiner reports
  • Toxicology laboratory reports

Utah statistics

  • Common circumstances around suicide deaths include a recent crisis within 2 weeks of the death (64.8%), a current mental health problem (55.9%), left a suicide note (38.1%), and intimate partner problem (36.3%) 1.
  • Female suicide victims were more likely than male suicide victims to be receiving current mental health treatment and to have a history of suicide attempts. Male suicide victims were more likely to have an alcohol problem and a precipitating crime than female suicide victims 1. 
  • Common circumstances around homicide deaths include an argument that led to the death (40%), physical fight between 2 people (24.6%), precipitated by another serious crime (21.1%) and intimate partner violence (15.6%) 1. 
  • Homicide deaths among females were more likely than among males to be intimate partner violence-related and male homicide victims were more likely to have an argument that led to the death than female homicide victims 1. 
    See the data
Image

Request data

NVDRS data is available in the NVDRS ten-year report and the NVDRS fact sheets. It can also be queried on IBIS-PH. National data can also be queried through WISQARS NVDRS. However, these platforms do not contain all the data elements that the NVDRS has to offer. If you have more specific data needs beyond what has been outlined above, please click on the following link to access a form to request NVDRS data. Note that line-level data will require a data sharing agreement.
Learn More

Additional resources: 

National data can be queried through WISQARS National Violent Death Reporting System.

See additional resources from the CDC about the NVDRS here.

Access to the full list of data variables NVDRS Coding Manual .

Reference

  1. Utah Violent Death Reporting System, Violence and Injury Prevention Program, Utah Department of Health and Human Services, 2018-2022 data [cited 2024 August].