Incidence and costs of injuries to children and adults in the United States

Mark R Zonfrillo,Ted R Miller,Bruce A Lawrence,Rebecca S Spicer

doi:10.1186/s40621-018-0167-6

Abstract

BackgroundInjuries are a leading cause of death and acquired disability, and result in significant medical spending. Prior estimates of injury-related cost have been limited by older data, for certain population, or specific mechanisms.FindingsThis study estimated the incidence of hospital-treated nonfatal injuries in the United States (US) in 2013 and the related comprehensive costs. Injury-related emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations were identified using 2013 Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) data. Models estimated the costs of medical spending and lost future work due to injuries in 2013 U.S. dollars. A total of 31,038,072 nonfatal injury-related hospitalizations and ED visits were identified, representing 9.8 per 100 people. Hospital-treated nonfatal injuries cost an estimated $1.853 trillion, including $168 billion in medical spending, $223 billion in work losses, and $1.461 trillion in quality of life losses.ConclusionsApproximately one in 10 individuals in the US is treated in the hospital for injury each year, with high corresponding costs. These data support priority-setting to reduce the injury burden in the US.

Highlights

Injuries are a leading cause of death and acquired disability, and result in significant medical spending
Approximately one in 10 individuals in the United States (US) is treated in the hospital for injury each year, with high corresponding costs
Prior estimates of injury-related cost have been from much older data (Danseco et al 2000; Miller et al 2000; Corso et al 2006), for certain populations (e.g., children (Miller et al 2000; Zaloshnja et al 2012; Roy et al 2008), Medicaid recipients (Roy et al 2008)), for certain mechanisms (e.g., consumer products (Lawrence and Miller, 2014), agricultural (Zaloshnja et al 2012)), or for cost totals that only include medical care (Dieleman et al 2016)

Summary

Introduction

Injuries are a leading cause of death and acquired disability, and result in significant medical spending. Prior estimates of injury-related cost have been limited by older data, for certain population, or specific mechanisms. Injuries are a leading cause of death and acquired disability in children and adults, and result in significant medical spending nationwide. Prior estimates of injury-related cost have been from much older data (Danseco et al 2000; Miller et al 2000; Corso et al 2006), for certain populations (e.g., children (Miller et al 2000; Zaloshnja et al 2012; Roy et al 2008), Medicaid recipients (Roy et al 2008)), for certain mechanisms (e.g., consumer products (Lawrence and Miller, 2014), agricultural (Zaloshnja et al 2012)), or for cost totals that only include medical care (Dieleman et al 2016). While incidence describes the magnitude of the problem, costs provide a better measure of burden by accounting for

Methods

Results

Conclusion