The Effects of Unintentional Injury

Unintentional injuries are a leading cause of death for Americans of all ages, regardless of gender, race, or economic status. In 1999, they were the leading cause of death for persons ages 1 to 34 years and the fifth leading cause of death overall. Nearly 98,000 people died in 1999 as a result of unintentional injuries. In fact, on average, every six minutes someone in the United States dies from causes such as motor vehicle crashes, falls, poisonings, drownings, fires, bicycle crashes, suffocation, or pedestrians being struck by motor vehicles.

10 Leading Causes of Death by Age Group - 1999

	Age Groups
Rank	<1	1-4	5-9	10-14	15-24	25-34	35-44	45-54	55-64	65+	All Ages
1	Congenital Anomalies 5,473	Unintentional Injury 1,898	Unintentional Injury 1,459	Unintentional Injury 1,632	Unintentional Injury 13,656	Unintentional Injury 11,890	Malignant Neoplasms 16,732	Malignant Neoplasms 46,681	Malignant Neoplasms 89,067	Heart Disease 607,265	Heart Disease 725,192
2	Short Gestation 4,392	Congenital Anomalies 549	Malignant Neoplasms 509	Malignant Neoplasms 503	Homicide 4,998	Suicide 5,106	Unintentional Injury 15,231	Heart Disease 34,994	Heart Disease 64,167	Malignant Neoplasms 390,122	Malignant Neoplasms 549,838
3	SIDS 2,648	Malignant Neoplasms 418	Congenital Anomalies 207	Homicide 246	Suicide 3,901	Homicide 4,231	Heart Disease 13,600	Unintentional Injury 11,639	Chronic Low. Respiratory Disease 11,297	Cerebro- vascular 148,599	Cerebro- vascular 167,366
4	Maternal Pregnancy Comp. 1,399	Homicide 376	Homicide 186	Suicide 242	Malignant Neoplasms 1,724	Malignant Neoplasms 4,005	Suicide 6,466	Liver Disease 6,368	Cerebro- vascular 9,652	Chronic Low. Respiratory Disease 108,112	Chronic Low. Respiratory Disease 124,181
5	Respiratory Distress 1,110	Heart Disease 183	Heart Disease 116	Congenital Anomalies 221	Heart Disease 1,069	Heart Disease 3,066	HIV 6,232	Cerebro- vascular 5,563	Diabetes Mellitus 9,097	Influenza & Pneumonia 57,282	Unintentional Injury 97,860
6	Placenta Cord Membranes 1,025	Influenza & Pneumonia 130	Benign Neoplasms 64	Heart Disease 161	Congenital Anomalies 434	HIV 2,729	Liver Disease 3,302	Suicide 5,081	Unintentional Injury 7,285	Diabetes Mellitus 51,843	Diabetes Mellitus 68,399
7	Unintentional Injury 845	Perinatal Period 92	Chronic Low. Respiratory Disease 49	Chronic Low. Respiratory Disease 90	Chronic Low. Respiratory Disease 209	Diabetes Mellitus 582	Homicide 3,206	Diabetes Mellitus 4,735	Liver Disease 5,637	Alzheimer's Disease 44,020	Influenza & Pneumonia 63,730
8	Bacterial Sepsis 691	Septicemia 87	Septicemia 47	Influenza & Pneumonia 47	HIV 198	Cerebro- vascular 580	Cerebro- vascular 2,574	HIV 3,907	Suicide 2,896	Unintentional Injury 32,219	Alzheimer's Disease 44,536
9	Circulatory System Disease 667	Benign Neoplasms 63	Influenza & Pneumonia 46	Cerebro- vascular 39	Cerebro- vascular 182	Congenital Anomalies 465	Diabetes Mellitus 1,942	Chronic Low. Respiratory Disease 3,110	Nephritis 2,864	Nephritis 29,938	Nephritis 35,525
10	Atelectasis 647	Chronic Low. Respiratory Disease 54	HIV 38	Benign Neoplasms 37	Influenza & Pneumonia 179	Liver Disease 407	Influenza & Pneumonia 1,063	Influenza & Pneumonia 1,697	Septicemia 2,714	Septicemia 24,626	Septicemia 30,680

Injury deaths are only part of the picture. Millions of Americans experience nonfatal injuries each year, and in 2000, 1 in 10 people experienced a nonfatal injury serious enough to require a visit to an emergency department. Such injuries have a substantial impact on the lives of individual Americans, their families, and society. The physical and emotional effects of injuries can be extensive and wide-ranging, and in the case of disabling injuries, they can last a lifetime. The financial costs are also staggering: in 1995 dollars, injury costs were estimated at $260 billion. 

Everyone is at risk of injury at work, at home, and on the road. Consider these additional facts about injuries in the United States:

• Motor vehicle crashes. Despite increased use of safety belts, enactment of child passenger safety laws, and installation of air bags, motor vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of injury death in the United States, accounting for more than 42,000 deaths in 1999, including 5,700 teenagers. 
• Residential fires. In 2000, fire departments responded to 368,000 home fires in the United States that claimed the lives of an estimated 3,420 people and injured another 16,975. 
  Children and older adults are at greatest risk.
• Alcohol-impaired driving will affect one in three Americans during their lifetimes. In 2000, 16,653 people in the United States died in alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes, representing 40% of all traffic-related deaths.
• Falls are the leading cause of injury death and the most common cause of nonfatal injuries and hospital admissions for trauma among people ages 65 and older. In 2000, 1.6 million seniors were seen in emergency departments for fall injuries and 353,000 were hospitalized.
• Drowning claimed 4,153 lives in 1999, including the lives of 971 children ages 14 and younger. 

Although everyone is vulnerable to injury, some groups are at higher risk for unintentional injuries. For example, among all ethnic groups in the United States, American Indians/Alaska Natives have the highest unintentional injury death rate (i.e., 61 per 100,000 population compared with 41 per 100,000 for blacks and 36 per 100,000 for whites in 1999). At any age, nearly twice as many males as females die of unintentional injuries each year. And for some types of unintentional injury deaths, such as those related to residential fires, low-income groups are at increased risk.

This page last reviewed 09/07/06.

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control