Injury Research: Where Should We Go From Here?

The injury research field is beginning to come of age. There now exists a formal organization within the federal government for injury research (the Division of Injury Epidemiology and Control of the Centers for Disease Control), growing funding by federal and private foundations, and an increasing body of literature (199 articles since 1986). A blue ribbon panel has issued a report on the status of the injury problem and outlined areas for research. Little attention, however, has been paid to the type of research studies that are needed. The history of the injury field has been marked by studies that are nearly all of the same type-descriptive epidemiology.