Surveillance for fatal and nonfatal injuries--United States, 2001

Abstract

Problem/condition: Each year in the United States, an estimated one in six residents requires medical treatment for an injury, and an estimated one in 10 residents visits a hospital emergency department (ED) for treatment of a nonfatal injury. This report summarizes national data on fatal and nonfatal injuries in the United States for 2001, by age; sex; mechanism, intent, and type of injury; and other selected characteristics.

Reporting period covered: January-December 2001.

Description of the system: Fatal injury data are derived from CDC's National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) and include information obtained from official death certificates throughout the United States. Nonfatal injury data, other than gunshot injuries, are from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System All Injury Program (NEISS-AIP), a national stratified probability sample of 66 U.S. hospital EDs. Nonfatal firearm and BB/pellet gunshot injury data are from CDC's Firearm Injury Surveillance Study, being conducted by using the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS), a national stratified probability sample of 100 U.S. hospital EDs.

Results: In 2001, approximately 157,078 persons in the United States (age-adjusted injury death rate: 54.9/100,000 population; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 54.6-55.2/100,000) died from an injury, and an estimated 29,721,821 persons with nonfatal injuries (age-adjusted nonfatal injury rate: 10404.3/100,000; 95% CI = 10074.9-10733.7/ 100,000) were treated in U.S. hospital EDs. The overall injury-related case-fatality rate (CFR) was 0.53%, but CFRs varied substantially by age (rates for older persons were higher than rates for younger persons); sex (rates were higher for males than females); intent (rates were higher for self-harm-related than for assault and unintentional injuries); and mechanism (rates were highest for drowning, suffocation/inhalation, and firearm-related injury). Overall, fatal and nonfatal injury rates were higher for males than females and disproportionately affected younger and older persons. For fatal injuries, 101,537 (64.6%) were unintentional, and 51,326 (32.7%) were violence-related, including homicides, legal intervention, and suicide. For nonfatal injuries, 27,551,362 (92.7%) were unintentional, and 2,155,912 (7.3%) were violence-related, including assaults, legal intervention, and self-harm. Overall, the leading cause of fatal injury was unintentional motor-vehicle-occupant injuries. The leading cause of nonfatal injury was unintentional falls; however, leading causes vary substantially by sex and age. For nonfatal injuries, the majority of injured persons were treated in hospital EDs for lacerations (25.8%), strains/sprains (20.2%), and contusions/abrasions (18.3%); the majority of injuries were to the head/neck region (29.5%) and the extremities (47.9%). Overall, 5.5% of those treated for nonfatal injuries in hospital EDs were hospitalized or transferred to another facility for specialized care.

Interpretation: This report provides the first summary report of fatal and nonfatal injuries that combines death data from NVSS and nonfatal injury data from NEISS-AIP. These data indicate that mortality and morbidity associated with injuries affect all segments of the population, although the leading external causes of injuries vary substantially by age and sex of injured persons. Injury prevention efforts should include consideration of the substantial differences in fatal and nonfatal injury rates, CFRs, and the leading causes of unintentional and violence-related injuries, in regard to the sex and age of injured persons.