Citation

Davis D, Cairns C. NCHS Data Brief 2021; (410): 1-8.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, United States National Center for Health Statistics)

DOI

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PMID

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Abstract

In 2017-2018, an average of 3.4 million emergency department (ED) visits for motor vehicle crash injuries occurred annually (1,2). Most persons injured or killed in motor vehicle crashes are occupants (3). Medical care costs and productivity losses associated with crash injuries and deaths exceeded $75 billion in 2017 (4). This report presents ED visit rates for motor vehicle crashes by age, race and ethnicity, health insurance status, and census region. Data for this report are from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS), an annual nationally representative survey of nonfederal, general, and short-stay hospitals (1,2).

Key findings
Data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey
● In 2017-2018, the overall emergency department (ED) visit rate for motor vehicle crash injuries was 5.3 visits per 1,000 persons.
● The ED visit rate was highest among patients aged 15-24 (9.1) and then declined with age.
● The ED visit rate for non-Hispanic black patients (15.2) was higher than for non-Hispanic white (4.3) and Hispanic (3.8) patients.
● ED visit rates for patients who had Medicaid, no insurance, or workers' compensation insurance as their primary expected source of payment were higher than for patients who had private insurance or Medicare.
● The ED visit rate for motor vehicle crash injuries at hospitals located in the South (6.8 visits per 1,000 persons) was higher than for rates at hospitals in all other census regions of the United States.

The full report is available at no cost at: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db410-H.pdf

Language: en