NCHS - Injury Mortality: United States

Two concepts are included in the circumstances of an injury death: intent of injury and mechanism of injury. Intent of injury describes whether the injury was inflicted purposefully (intentional injury) and, if purposeful, whether the injury was self-inflicted (suicide or self-harm) or inflicted by another person (homicide).

Injuries that were not purposefully inflicted are considered unintentional (accidental) injuries. Mechanism of injury describes the source of the energy transfer that resulted in physical or physiological harm to the body.