CDC WONDER Available to Purchase

As a one-time librarian for an environmental engineering firm, this reviewer first encountered the CDC’s somewhat macabre trove of mortality data while trying to ascertain the impact of elevated levels of pollutants on regional health statistics. The CDC’s WONDER databases homepage (http://wonder.cdc.gov/) offers a variety of resources, organized across three tabs: WONDER Systems, Topics and an A-Z Index. However, for the purposes of this review, discussion is limited to the website’s capabilities for downloading mortality data tailored to the needs of the individual user.

From the WONDER databases homepage, users may find links for downloading mortality data under...