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Abstract
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PURPOSE: The national health care expenditure is approximately $4.1 trillion, thus making up 18-19% of the national budget3. Moreover, 90% of the annual healthcare expenditure goes toward the treatment of chronic and mental health conditions including heart disease, stroke, cancer, obesity, Alzheimer's disease and more1. According to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Unintentional Injury (UI) is the third Leading Cause of Death (LCD) amongst all age groups. Notably, it is the first LCD in ages 10 to 44 for the past 30 years2. UI includes deaths from poisoning, falls, drowning, firearms, motor vehicle accidents, and more1.The societal and economic costs of UI cannot be overemphasized, resulting in the loss of billions of dollars annually. Despite its significant financial impact, only 8.2% of the total healthcare budget has been allocated to Injury Prevention and Control in 20234. We hypothesize an existing lack of prioritization and awareness regarding public efforts to address the leading cause of death in young adults.
METHODS: A stepwise approach was used to gather data reports regarding etiologies of UI in all age groups from 1999 to 2020 in the United States. Subsequently, statistics for these various causes of UI for each age group were reviewed. Data reports and statistics were obtained from the CDC WISQARS Data Visualization tool.
RESULTS: The CDC data illustrates unintentional injury is the leading cause of death across all age groups between 10-44 years old from 1999 to 2020. These findings are seen across all genders and races, however the distribution for the primary cause of fatal unintentional injuries differs across the age groups. In ages 10-14, the primary cause of fatal UI is motor vehicles (MV) at 55.1%, followed by drowning at 11.5%, burns at 5.8%, suffocation at 4.5% and poisoning with 3.2%. In ages 15-24, the primary cause is due to MV at 61.2% followed by poisoning at 23.3%, and drowning at 4.5%. In ages 25-34, the primary cause is due to poisoning at 66.9% followed by MV at 25.3%, and drowning at 2.0%. In ages 35-44, the primary cause is due to poisoning at 70.7% followed by MV at 19.4% and falls at 2.0%.
CONCLUSIONS: The causes of deaths from UI are largely preventable. Public health efforts should focus on developing and disseminating evidence-based guidelines for improving public awareness and education regarding motor vehicle accidents, risks for drowning and recognizing common substances found in poisoning. The economic impact from UI is significant, for example, the cost of injury in 2019 alone was $4.2 trillion3. This calls for a need to refocus our priorities and increase the budget to implement prevention strategies, and subsequently, decrease UI and its economic burden.
CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Healthcare professionals and policymakers can improve health outcomes and prevent UI through patient education and allocating public resources more efficiently, therefore reducing mortality rates associated with the current LCD in young adults. Correspondingly, population health will improve significantly with hopes of advancing overall global public health efforts to reduce mortality rate and improve longevity of life in young adults.
Language: en |