Economic Cost of Injury — United States, 2019

Abstract

Unintentional and violence-related injuries, including suicide, homicide, overdoses, motor vehicle crashes, and falls, were among the top 10 causes of death for all age groups in the United States and caused nearly 27 million nonfatal emergency department (ED) visits in 2019.* , † CDC estimated the economic cost of injuries that occurred in 2019 by assigning costs for medical care, work loss, value of statistical life, and quality of life losses to injury records from the CDC's Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS). § In 2019, the economic cost of injury was $4.2 trillion, including $327 billion in medical care, $69 billion in work loss, and $3.8 trillion in value of statistical life and quality of life losses. More than one half of this cost ($2.4 trillion) was among working-aged adults (aged 25-64 years). Individual persons, families, organizations, communities, and policymakers can use targeted proven strategies to prevent injuries and violence. Resources for best practices for preventing injuries and violence are available online from CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. ¶ The economic cost estimate for injuries that occurred in 2019 uses the societal perspective, including tangible and intangible costs to multiple payers, and a 1-year time horizon (period over which costs are assessed) for nonfatal injuries. Costs are presented in 2019 U.S. dollars (USD). WISQARS nonfatal injury counts are hospital ED injury visits from the nationally representative National Electronic Injury Surveillance System -All Injury Program. WISQARS fatal injury counts are from CDC's National Vital Statistics System mortality data. Medical and work loss costs (1,2) were adjusted for patient clinical and demographic characteristics, including * Data on leading causes of death and years of potential life lost are available from https://wisqars.cdc.gov/data/lcd (Accessed November 29, 2021). † Data on estimated number of nonfatal emergency department visits for injuries are available from https://wisqars.cdc.gov/data/non-fatal/explore (Accessed November 29, 2021). § https://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars ¶ https://www.cdc.gov/injury

A national study of 23 major trauma centres to investigate the effect of frailty on clinical outcomes in older people admitted with serious injury in England (FiTR 1): a multicentre observational study

“…Serious injuries account for one in 12 deaths worldwide, with older people at the greatest risk of dying due to such injuries. 1,2 Injuries from falls, the most common mechanism of injury in older people, contribute to over 600 000 deaths annually, three-quarters of which occur in low-income and middle-income countries. 3 As global populations continue to age, the proportion of trauma in older people will increase.…”

Trauma System Support to Facilitate Recovery

“…Furthermore, since the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been estimated that the inflationadjusted annual costs of injury have risen more than 20% during the past 2 years. 1 Care for injury has been vastly improved over the past 30 years, in large part because of the development of prehospital and intrahospital algorithms for initial evaluation and treatment of the injured. 2 As a result, morbidity and mortality have greatly diminished.…”

“…Furthermore, since the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been estimated that the inflation-adjusted annual costs of injury have risen more than 20% during the past 2 years. 1…”

Changing Care Settings for Injuries

“…Unintentional injury is the leading cause of death in the United States for individuals age 1 to 45 years (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2018). In 2019, the total cost of fatal and nonfatal injuries, including spending on medical care and lost work productivity, was estimated at US$4.2 trillion (Peterson et al, 2021). The primary source of data on nonfatal injuries used by researchers to study injury epidemiology and policy impacts, and by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to regulate product safety is the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS; CDC, 2021; CPSC, 2019).…”