Injuries Among Native
Americans
American Indians and
Alaska Natives, also referred to as Native Americans, have an
overall injury-related death rate that is twice the rate for all
racial and ethnic populations in the United States (Indian Health
Service 1999). Injuries are the leading cause of death for Native
Americans ages 1 to44 years and the third leading cause of death
overall (CDC2004). Native Americans age 18 years and younger are at
greater risk of preventable injury-related deaths than other
children and youth in the United States (Wallace, Patel, and
Dellinger 2003). Injuries and violence account for 75% of all deaths
among Native American children and youth 18 years and younger
(Wallace 2000).
Motor vehicle crashes and
pedestrian-related injury are the two leading causes of
unintentional injury-related death among
Native American adults 20
years of age or older (CDC 2004). Motor vehicle-related death
rates for Native American adults were more than twice the rates for
whites and nearly two times greater than those for African Americans
(CDC 2004). Fire-related death rates for Native Americans were
nearly twice the rates for whites. Native American drowning
rates were almost three times greater than rates for whites and more
than two times greater than rates for African Americans (CDC 2004).
Research
Injury mortality among Native
American children and youth —
Native Americans age 19 years and
younger are at greater risk of preventable injury-related deaths
than other children and youth in the United States. A 2003 CDC MMWR
study found that injuries and violence account for 75% of all deaths
among Native Americans in this age group—a rate that is about twice
that of all children and youth in the United States. Motor vehicle
crashes were the leading cause of injury-related death, followed by
suicide, homicide, drowning, and fires. In the years 1989 through
1998, more than 3,300 Native American children and youth living on
or near reservations died from injuries or violence (Wallace, Patel,
and Dellinger 2003).
Programs
CDC and Indian Health
Service interagency agreement —
Since 1985, CDC and the Indian Health
Service (IHS) have had an interagency agreement to focus on
surveillance, risk factor identification, technical assistance, and
prevention measures to reduce injuries among Native Americans in the
United States. Established in response to the high rates of injury
among Native American populations, this successful partnership has
become one of the longest-lived for CDC’s Injury Center. Activities
and products include the following:
-
Native American Childhood
Injury Mortality Atlas,1989–1998. Injury staff developed a color
atlas detailing eight major causes of injury-related death,
categorized by Indian Health Service regional Areas for Native
Americans age 19 and younger from 1989 through 1998. The executive
summary of the atlas is available on CDC’s Injury Center website:
www.cdc.gov/ncipc/pub-res/atlas-summary.
-
Funding for effective
strategies to reduce motor vehicle injuries among Native American
tribes. CDC funds Native American tribes to tailor, implement, and
evaluate evidence-based effective strategies to reduce motor
vehicle-related injuries among Native American communities. These
demonstration projects will apply recommendations from the Task
Force on Community Preventive Services in a manner that is
culturally appropriate for each Native American
community.
-
Training injury prevention practitioners. CDC’s
Injury Center staff serve on the IHS injury prevention training work
group, which is revising and developing three week-long injury
prevention training courses to educate IHS and tribal staff about
community-based injury prevention. The three courses follow the
Public Health Model and cover introductory material through advanced
injury prevention practice. Since the first course was conducted in
1985, hundreds of IHS and tribal staff members have been trained
through the original IHS Introduction to Injury Prevention course,
which has been instrumental in building capacity in injury
prevention.
