Abstract
Injury-associated deaths have substantial economic consequences in the United States. The total estimated lifetime medical and work-loss costs associated with fatal injuries in 2013 were $214 billion (1). In 2014, unintentional injury, suicide, and homicide (the fourth, tenth, and seventeenth leading causes of death, respectively) accounted for 194,635 deaths in the United States (2). In 2014, a total of 199,756 fatal injuries occurred in the United States, and the associated lifetime medical and work-loss costs were $227 billion (3). This report examines the state-level economic burdens of fatal injuries by extending a previous national-level study (1). Numbers and rates of fatal injuries, lifetime costs, and lifetime costs per capita were calculated for each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia (DC) and for four injury intent categories (all intents, unintentional, suicide, and homicide). During 2014, injury mortality rates and economic burdens varied widely among the states and DC. Among fatal injuries of all intents, the mortality rate and lifetime costs per capita ranged from 101.9 per 100,000 and $1,233, respectively (New Mexico) to 40.2 per 100,000 and $491 (New York). States can engage more effectively and efficiently in injury prevention if they are aware of the economic burden of injuries, identify areas for immediate improvement, and devote necessary resources to those areas.
Highlights
Injuries from All IntentsInjury mortality rates (per 100,000), lifetime costs (in 2014 U.S dollars), and lifetime costs per capita (in 2014 U.S dollars) varied widely among the 50 states and DC for each of the four intents
States can engage more effectively and efficiently in injury prevention if they are aware of the economic burden of injuries, identify areas for immediate improvement, and devote necessary resources to those areas
Unintentional injury moved from the fifth to the fourth leading cause of death; the number of suicides rose 31%, from 32,637 to 42,773, and suicide moved from the eleventh to the tenth leading cause of death [2,6]
Summary
Injury mortality rates (per 100,000), lifetime costs (in 2014 U.S dollars), and lifetime costs per capita (in 2014 U.S dollars) varied widely among the 50 states and DC for each of the four intents. Total injury-related mortality rate and lifetime costs per capita ranged from 101.9 per 100,000 and $1,233, respectively (New Mexico) to 40.2 and $491. The states with the highest and lowest lifetime fatal injury costs were California ($20.9 billion) and Vermont ($406 million), respectively. The five states with the highest lifetime fatal injury costs per capita were New Mexico ($1,233), West Virginia ($1,162), Alaska ($1,091), Louisiana ($1,041), and Oklahoma ($1,040); states with the lowest lifetime costs per capita were New York ($491), New Jersey ($533), California ($538), Massachusetts ($550), and Minnesota ($557)
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