Research goals were to develop baseline injury data on hospitalizations and deaths, identify factors contributing to injury, target resources to injury prevention, and aid in the design and evaluation of injury prevention programs. The analysis examined overall injuries, as well as specific injury types. Findings revealed that injuries killed about 536 people each year in 1989 and 1990. In the same period, 14,078 injuries resulted in hospitalization for an average of 7,039 persons yearly. Most deaths and injury-related hospitalizations affected local residents on their home islands. The estimated annual injury death rate was 42.4 per 100,000 population, while the estimated annual injury hospitalization rate was 580.9 per 100,000. Of those killed by injuries, 75 percent were males; of those hospitalized due to injuries, 61 percent were males. Primary causes of injury-related death were vehicular accidents and suicide. Recommendations to prevent injuries are offered that focus on centralized planning and community-based involvement in injury surveillance and prevention and on the implementation of a injury data system. 17 references and 8 figures