Trauma Facts

According to the National Trauma Institute:

• Trauma is the #1 cause of death for Americans between 1 and 44 years old.
• Trauma is the #3 cause of death overall.
• Each year, trauma accounts for 41 million ER visits and 2 million hospital admissions.
• Trauma injury accounts for 30% of all life years lost.
• The economic burden of trauma is more than $406 billion annually.
• Each year, more than 180,000 people lose their lives to trauma.

Each year trauma accounts for 41 million emergency department visits and 2.3 million hospital admissions across the nation.

Life Years Lost (2010, 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%

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 Burden

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

Deaths due to injury (2010, most recent available)

• 180,811

Ranking as cause of death

• #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

Burns (2013, most recent available)

• 450,000 burn injuries require medical attention annually.
• 40,000 hospitalizations related to burn injury.
• 3,400 fire/burn/smoke inhalation deaths per year

Falls(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.