Injury and Accident Factoids
June 7, 2006
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Each year there are 27 million visits to hospital emergency departments for injuries.
- A fatal injury occurs every 5 minutes and a disabling injury occurs every 1.6 seconds.
- Falls are the leading causes of nonfatal unintentional injuries treated in hospital emergency departments (7.0 million visits) followed by motor-vehicle crashes (4.6 million visits).
- About 1 out of 19 people experience an unintentional injury in their home or community each year.
- In the home there is a fatal injury every 16 minutes and a disabling injury every 4 seconds.
- The four leading causes of fatal injury in the home and community are falls; poisoning; choking; drowning; and fires, flames and smoke.
- U.S. poison control centers handle an average of one poison exposure every 15 seconds (Litovitz 2001).
- Of the more than 2 million poison exposures, 52.7% occurred among children younger than age six (Litovitz 2001).
- In 2000, 475,079 poison exposures were treated in a health care facility (Litovitz 2001).
- The most common poison exposures for children were ingestion of household products such as cosmetics and personal care products, cleaning substances, pain relievers, foreign bodies, and plants (Litovitz 2001).
- 54,400 fatalities occurred in the home and community or 54% of all injury-related deaths.
- A death caused by a motor vehicle crash occurs every 12 minutes; a disabling injury occurs every 13 seconds.
- The age groups most affected by motor vehicle crashes are 15-24 and 75+.
- There is an alcohol-related traffic death every 30 minutes and a nonfatal injury every 2 minutes.
Resources:
National Safety Month
Medications and Healthy Traveling
The Transportation Security Administration Guidelines
for Carrying Medications and Medical Equipment while Flying
Traveling with Diabetes
Hot Weather is Deadly Weather
First Aid for Heat Related Illnesses
