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Table 1 IHS user injuries over 5 years and lifetime medical costs by intent and cause, 2011–2015*

From: Incidence, deaths, and lifetime costs of injury among American Indians and Alaska Natives

Injury Category (non-fatal and fatal)IncidenceLifetime Medical Cost (2017 USD thousands)Number with Non-missing Cost DataPer- Injury Event Cost (2017 USD)
CountRate per 100,000 person years
All injuries995,82312,2022,743,980914,0143000
Injury intent
 Unintentional858,92910,5251,811,158793,4252280
 Intentional196,2651179236,25887,9862456
 Other/undetermined40,629498696,56432,60317,157
Injury cause
 Falls237,0572904652,967237,0572760
 Struck by/against155,6541908296,880155,6541910
 Overexertion97,7721198162,62197,7721660
 Natural/environmental85,1221043177,33985,1222080
 Cut/pierce72,816892105,20672,8161450
 Motor vehicle/traffic2,343,064527202,55842,2924790
 Other, transportation221,29626169,29621,2963250
 Fire/burn20,66725330,55020,6671480
 Poisoning16,85920757,00116,8593380
 Other, pedal cyclists280149821,79280142720
 Machinery331541535933151620
 Suffocation186322989418635310
 Firearms3138717506112783960
 Other, pedestrian2,312491537217954680
 Drowning322137241027100
 Other specified493,0751141142,12693,0751530
 Unspecified4,5136,3921671800,88556,03714,290
  1. *Note: Injury counts, lifetime medical costs, and per-incident injury costs were calculated including the 349 fatal injuries reported in the NDW injury data. Fatal injuries were not included in incident injury rates to allow for comparisons with non-fatal injury surveillance data from other sources. Per-injury event costs were calculated as total cost by intent/cause divided by the total number of injury events for which costs could be assigned
  2. 1. The two categories of intentional injuries are self-inflicted and assault. Twelve percent of intentional injuries were self-inflicted, and 88% were from assault.
  3. 2.These are mutually exclusive categories. “Motor vehicle/traffic” crashes include all traffic collisions involving a motor vehicle and pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclist, or other motor vehicles. “Other, transportation” are train, aircraft, watercraft, off-road, and other non-traffic crashes (not involving a pedestrian or cyclist). “Other, pedal cyclists” are train and non-traffic crashes involving pedal cyclists. “Other, pedestrian” are train and non-traffic crashes involving pedestrians.
  4. 3. Cost data were not available for office-based events or outpatient events for these injury categories. The difference between the injury event “Count” and the “Number with Non-missing Cost Data” is the number of events with missing cost data.
  5. 4. The “other specified” category includes “other specified and classifiable” and “other specified, not elsewhere classifiable.” Other specified injuries include those with causes not routinely reported (e.g., explosions, electric current, late effects of unintentional injury) or for which injury codes do not exist (e.g., assault by other specified means). Unspecified injuries had no cause reported, such as fractures with cause unspecified. Additional detail on missing NDW data and the impact on injury counts, rates, and costs is also provided in Additional file 1.
  6. 5. Unspecified injury events did not have cost data for office-based events or outpatient events. More than half of all “Unspecified” injury events were missing cost data. Because of the high cost of “Unspecified” hospital and emergency room visits (Additional file 2 Table B1), per-injury event costs for “Unspecified” injuries are very high ($14,290).
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Injury Epidemiology

ISSN: 2197-1714