Unintentional Injuries and Accidents in the United States

Every year, millions of Americans visit emergency departments for treatment for unintentional injuries. According to the most recent data posted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were 27.7 million emergency room visits in 2006 alone. That means that every day, approximately 75,900 people went to U.S. emergency rooms because of unintentional injuries.

Unintentional injuries include those that are nonfatal and those that turn out to be deadly. An unintentional injury includes those caused by car accidents, falls, poisonings and other events. The CDC states on its website that “research and prevention programs focus on two categories of unintentional injury: motor vehicle-related injuries and home and recreation related injuries.” The agency defines an injury as a serious public health problem, one that takes a toll on the health of the population and incurs social and economic costs.

Unintentional injuries tend to be the leading cause of death each year in the United States for those under the age of 35. The following is a summary of the most recent information available for unintentional injuries in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

(All data is based on 2005 statistics)

Deaths Caused by Unintentional Injury
• Total number of deaths caused by unintentional injury: 117,809
• 39.7 deaths per 100,000 population
• Ranked 5th for cause of death

Deaths Caused by Motor Vehicle Accidents
• Total number of deaths caused by motor vehicle accidents: 43,667
• 14.7 deaths per 100,000 population

Deaths Caused by Unintentional Poisoning
• Total number of deaths caused by unintentional poisoning: 23,618
• 8 deaths per 100,000 population

Deaths Caused by Falls
• Total number of deaths caused by falls: 19,656
• 6.6 deaths per 100,000 population

*Source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: “Accidents or Unintentional Injuries”

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