
Each year trauma accounts for 41 million emergency department visits and 2.3 million hospital admissions across the nation.
Life Years Lost (2014, most recent available)
- Trauma injury accounts for 30% of all life years lost in the U.S.
- Cancer accounts for 16%
- Heart disease accounts for 12%
Because trauma is a disease affecting all ages of people, the impact on life years lost is equal to the life years lost from cancer, heart disease and HIV combined.
Economic Burden
- $671 billion a year, including both health care costs and lost productivity
Deaths due to injury (2014, most recent available)
Ranking as cause of death3.5
- #1 for age group 1-46, or 47% of all deaths in this age range
- #3 as leading cause of death overall, across all age groups
Burns (2013, most recent available)
- 450,000 burn injuries require medical attention annually.
- 40,000 hospitalizations related to burn injury.
- 3,400 fire/burn/smoke inhalation deaths per year
Falls (2013, most recent available)
- Each year, 2.5 million older people are treated in emergency departments for fall injuries and at least 250,000 older people are hospitalized for hip fractures.
- Over 700,000 patients a year are hospitalized because of a fall injury, most often because of a head injury or hip fracture.
From The National Trauma Institute