Source CDC, updated April 2012

Each year trauma accounts for 42 million emergency department visits and 2 million hospital admissions
across the nation.

Life Years Lost¹ (2009, 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%
      HIV accounts for 2.0%

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 Burden²
      $406 billion a year, including both health care costs
       and lost productivity

Deaths due to injury³ (2009, most recent available)
      171,729

Ranking as cause of death³
      #1 for age group 1-44, or 47% of all deaths in this age range
      #3 as leading cause of death overall, across all age groups

Burns⁴ (2011, most recent available)
      450,000 burn injuries require medical attention annually.

Falls⁵ (2009, most recent available)
      Nearly one third of older adults experience a fall each year
      In 2009, over 8 million people were treated in emergency departments for nonfatal injuries
        related to falls; 2.2 million of these were people aged over 65 years, and over 581,000 of
        these were hospitalized.
      In 2008, more than 19,700 people died of fall-related injuries; over 17,700 were 65 years
        or older.


¹ Life Years Lost: A measure to account for the age at which deaths occur, giving greater weight to deaths occurring at younger ages and lower weight to deaths occurring at older ages. The LYL (percentage of total) indicator measures the LYL due to a particular cause of death as a proportion of the total LYL lost due to premature mortality in the population. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Web–based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) [online]. Accessed April 11, 2012.

² Finkelstein, E.A., Corso, P.S., & Miller, T.R. The Incidence and Economic Burden of Injuries in the United States. USA: Oxford University Press. 2006

³ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Web–based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) [online]. Accessed April 11, 2012.

⁴ http://ameriburn.org/resources_factsheet.php?PHPSESSID=7ff4976025bb95f31afc087aa7e86649

⁵ http://www.cdc.gov/HomeandRecreationalSafety/Falls/adultfalls.html