Unintentional injuries are tracked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) through the Injury Center, and reported at WISQARS(TM).1 Injuries kill thousands every year, and many of those who survive have life-long impairment as a result of those injuries. Musculoskeletal injuries are the most common type of injury. While much of the focus has been on injury prevention, research to alleviate the impact of major trauma from vehicular accidents, falls, sports, and war injuries, among other causes, is necessary to reduce the burden.
The number of unintentional deaths from injuries has remained fairly steady since the early 2000s, with 110,000 to 120,000 deaths occurring as a result of injuries each year.1 However, the proportion of these unintentional deaths that occur as a result of a fall has been steadily rising since 2000, increasing from 14% of deaths in 2000 to 24% in 2010. The age-adjusted rate2 per 100,000 persons has increased from 4.8 to 7.8 for the same time frame.
The primary cause of this increasing proportion is due to deaths from falls in the aging population. Among persons age 65 years and older, the proportion of unintentional injury deaths from falls has risen from 33% to 52% between 2000 and 2010. There has been a slight rate increase from 12% to 14% among persons age 55 to 64 years. The proportion has remained relatively steady for persons under the age of 54 years. Unintentional injuries are the top cause of death for all persons age 1 to 44 years; the third highest cause for those age 45 to 54 years; fourth highest for those age 55 to 64 years; and ninth for those age 65 years and older.3 (Reference Table 6A.3.1.1 PDF [2] CSV [3])
In 2011, the death rate due to unintentional injury from falls remained at 22%. Females, however, experienced a higher death rate from falls than did males (29% versus 17%). Although the number of deaths from unintentional injury is similar across age groups, both sexes show a steep increase in deaths from falls with increasing age. Among children under age 18 years, the proportion of deaths from falls among all unintentional injury deaths is only 1.4%. Among persons age 85 years and older, it is 63%. (Reference Table 6A.3.1.2 PDF [4] CSV [5])
The CDC reported that 30 million unintentional injuries were treated in hospital emergency departments in 2011. Of these 30 million, 90%, or 27.2 million patients, were treated and released. The remaining 10% were hospitalized. These numbers are very similar to those reported in the national health care databases (29.1 million, 91% treated in the ED, 9% hospitalized). (Reference Table 6A.3.2.1 PDF [7] CSV [8])
Falls are the most common cause of nonfatal unintentional injuries, and are responsible for slightly more than 3 in 10 injuries overall. For injuries in which the person is hospitalized, falls account for nearly one in two. Other forms of trauma are described as the cause in the majority of injury visits to an emergency department in the national health care databases, accounting for 54% of all the injury visits. Among persons hospitalized, trauma other than falls was the cause in 27% of the discharges. The CDC breaks down the cause of unintentional injuries into more categories. (Reference Table 6A.3.2.4 PDF [9] CSV [10])
In 2011, the overall rate of visits to an emergency department for treatment of unintentional injuries was 87.2 per 1,000 persons. When visits for which the patient was hospitalized are included, the rate increases to 96.4 per 1,000, or roughly 1 in 100 persons who are treated for an injury in an emergency department in a given year. The rate per injury by cause varies significantly by age of the patient. For example, while falls have an overall rate of 29.7 per 1,000 persons, among persons age 74 to 85 years the rate increases to 64.9. For persons age 85 years and older, it jumps to 141.6 per 1,000. (Reference Table 6A.3.2.2 PDF [11] CSV [12])
Links:
[1] http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/index.html
[2] https://www.boneandjointburden.org/docs/T6A.3.1.1.pdf
[3] https://www.boneandjointburden.org/docs/T6A.3.1.1.csv
[4] https://www.boneandjointburden.org/docs/T6A.3.1.2.pdf
[5] https://www.boneandjointburden.org/docs/T6A.3.1.2.csv
[6] http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/
[7] https://www.boneandjointburden.org/docs/T6A.3.2.1.pdf
[8] https://www.boneandjointburden.org/docs/T6A.3.2.1.csv
[9] https://www.boneandjointburden.org/docs/T6A.3.2.4.pdf
[10] https://www.boneandjointburden.org/docs/T6A.3.2.4.csv
[11] https://www.boneandjointburden.org/docs/T6A.3.2.2.pdf
[12] https://www.boneandjointburden.org/docs/T6A.3.2.2.csv