CDC Releases Linking Information for Nonfatal Crash Surveillance (LINCS) Guide
In the United States, each year
around 3 million people are nonfatally injured in motor vehicle crashes.
Information about these crashes are collected by various data sources, such as
police, hospital, and emergency medical services records. However, if states
are not linking data, they are limited in what they know about these injuries
and how to best prevent them. Data linkage is connecting data sets from three
crash phases—before, during and after a crash—to provide more robust motor
vehicle crash data for:
- Analysis
- Evaluation
- Surveillance
- Prevention efforts
Existing
data sources are generally collected and stored separately, but linking these
data sets can create a more comprehensive understanding of motor vehicle crashes.
States face many challenges when starting—and at times maintaining—data linkage
programs. To address this challenge, CDC released the Linking
Information for Nonfatal Crash Surveillance (LINCS) Guide to help states start or expand data
linkage programs. The guide explains the key components of successful linkage
programs and outlines the data-linkage process.
The guide addresses the following
objectives:
- Understand how linked data can be used
- Document challenges and successes in implementing linkage programs
- Explore methods and tools available for data linkage
- Help states start linking data or expand and improve current linkage programs
The guide is based on:
- Best practices of successful linkage programs
- Updates environmental scans for linkage research, methods, and tools
- State data linkage pilot efforts
- Lessons learned in previous efforts
Download
CDC's LINCS Guide here and share with your networks to help them start
or enhance their data linkage program. Together, we can get the whole
picture!
