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One of the first steps in the epidemiologic framework is the conduct of descriptive studies. Descriptive studies provide information to understand the importance of injuries and to describe potential causal factors behind them. Most of the current information available to describe injuries has been identified through injury surveillance systems.

Surveillance systems represent the systematic collection of data on a disease. They identify the existing level of disease. Over time they identify trends to show if diseases are increasing or decreasing in incidence, and which are changing in their distribution. This information is needed to identify emerging problems and also to assess the effectiveness of measures to control old problems. For more information, see Epidemiology for the Uninitiated, Chapter 1.