98 99 In addition, over 6,000 persons who were injured are discharged from hospitals with paraplegia or quadriplegia. 1 2 3 With respect to long-term disability, more than 75,000 Americans each year sustain brain injuries that result in long-term disability, including 2,000 who remain in persistent vegetative states. In 1981, people spent 144 million days in bed because of injuries. Injury is also a leading cause of short- and long-term disability. 125 And more than 25 percent of hospital emergency-room visits are for the treatment of injuries. Injury is the leading cause of physician contacts-in 1980, there were 99 million such contacts, compared with 72 million for heart disease, the second leading cause of such visits, and 64 million for respiratory disease, the third leading cause. Even among the elderly, however, injury is an important cause of death in fact, the death rate from injury (the number of injury deaths per 100,000 of population) is higher among the elderly than among younger people. Only after age 45 do other health problems-notably heart disease and cancer-cause more deaths than injuries. Up to age 44, injury deaths continue to outnumber deaths from any other cause. 12 Especially high death rates among teenagers and young adults ate associated with motor-vehicle crashes, firearms, and drowning.
Modified from Baker et al.Īmong young children, the largest numbers of injury deaths are caused by motor-vehicle crashes, drowning, and fire pedestrian deaths constitute a major problem in urban areas.
Percentages of deaths from injury and other causes in the United States in 1980, by age.