Injury Prevention Research Center

Often you hear people refer to “accidents” when describing the circumstances around injuries. Whether this involves a car crash, a fall, or a burn, these “accidents” might seem like a stroke of bad luck. One of the messages of the UI IPRC, however, is that injuries and violence are preventable.  Our center will continue to…

See the latest 2021 data on fireworks injuries in Iowa and the 2021 policy brief. 12/2017 -Iowa’s new firework law went into effect this past May (2017), allowing the sale of fireworks in the state during specific time periods.  Since then, firework-related injuries at Iowa’s largest trauma hospital have more than doubled—to 21 such injuries.…

A new state-based surveillance system is helping Iowa learn more about the circumstances surrounding violent deaths such as suicide. Iowa released its first report from the Iowa Violent Death Reporting System (IAVDRS), which tracks trends overtime and provides a complete picture – the who, when, where and how of violent deaths. Data from death certificates,…

October 2—Deaths from prescription opioids have quadrupled in the past 20 years in Iowa.  Such death rates are lower compared to other states; however, Iowa is one of four states with such a dramatic increase.  From 2002 to 2014, as many as 1,239 people died from a prescription opioid overdose in Iowa. The University of…

Rural living is known for things like close communities and pretty landscapes, but it also comes with some risks related to injuries.  Dangerous gravel roads, experiencing social isolation or having to travel longer distances for emergency care after a traumatic injury are examples of rural injury risks.  Being in a rural location can even mean…

Conventional wisdom is that youth flag football is safer than youth tackle football, but UI researchers found that may not be the case. Andrew Peterson, a specialist with UI Sports Medicine, received a 2016 pilot grant from the UI IPRC to study injury rates in local youth football leagues.  Sports-related injuries are the leading cause…

Our partners at the world- renowned National Advanced Driving Simulator (NADS) take their technology on the road—and their safety messages. Through their partnership with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), staff of NADS’s outreach program visit schools with a portable driving simulator (miniSim) to demonstrate science concepts and different driving conditions. They also bring the…

Evaluating sexual violence prevention programs for a state health department.  Identifying soldiers with PTSD and depression for the U.S. military.  Surveilling alcohol and drug use for one of the largest U.S. city health departments. Since graduating from the UI College of Public Health last year, this is how three of our UI IPRC alumni are…

On April 13th over 30 people gathered in Des Moines to identify priorities to address the growing opioid overdose crisis in Iowa. The meeting was sponsored by the Injury Prevention Research Center (UI IPRC) and was part of a larger national project funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to make recommendations…

Last month around 35 people gathered for a community forum in Cedar Rapids to talk about how to prevent youth violence.  On the 5-member panel was our newest colleague from the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH): Tiffany Conroy, the state’s new violence prevention coordinator. Conroy recently moved from Chicago to join the team of…