Injury Prevention Research Center

A new UI IPRC report helps us understand for the first time how bicycle safety is being taught in the U.S. in a climate where there are no gold standards for bicycle education programs. The report creates an inventory of child bicycle education curricula so that educators can look for best practices and age-appropriate lessons…

On February 27, more than 100 state legislators and staff gathered for a congressional briefing in DC to learn how a network of 10 Injury Control Research Centers (ICRCS) are tackling the nation’s deadliest drug epidemic. The briefing, Addressing the Opioid Epidemic: Leveraging Partnerships, Research and Practice, was co-hosted by CDC-funded ICRCs and Representatives John…

When Romanian student Diana Dulf took the course Injury and Violence Prevention taught by UI IPRC’s Professor Corinne Peek-Asa, she became interested in the injury field and found her focus of research.  That was 2009. Fast forward: Dulf is now Assistant Professor at the Cluj School of Public Health at Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania…

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…