Injuries are very common. Most of us will suffer a serious injury at least once in our lives. Often, people say “accident” when they talk about injuries. In fact, we can predict and prevent most injuries.

More than 167,000 Americans died from injuries in 2004 (fatality rate 56.21 per 100,000) and almost 30 million others were injured (nonfatal injury rate 10,122.02 per 100,000). In 2004, unintentional injuries were also the number one cause of years of potential life lost (YPLL) before age 65 in the United States . Homicide and suicide were in the top 10 leading causes of YPLL for Americans in 2004 (National Centers for Injury Prevention and Control, Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System).

In both King County and Washington State , injuries killed more people between the ages of 1 and 44 than any other cause of death. Furthermore, people between the ages of 5 – 44 and over 85 were hospitalized for injuries than for any other (non-childbirth) reason.

In addition to death and disability, injuries inflict serious financial costs on people and society. In fact, medical costs and productivity losses from injuries total over $400 billion a year. Nevertheless, injuries are one of the most overlooked public health problems of our time (Centers for Disease Control).

Experts group most injuries as either xunintentionalx or xintentional.x Car crashes, falls, drownings, poisonings, and burns are types of unintentional injuries (most of the time). Murder, suicide, and assault are intentional injuries.

In 2004, almost 3500 people in Washington State died from an injury (WA Department of Health)

• 67% of these injury deaths were unintentional.
• 30% were intentional.
• 3% of them were listed as “other” or “unknown.”

In 2004, in King County , poisonings (predominately drug overdoses) were the main cause of unintentional injury death. Suicide was the main cause of intentional injury death (WA Department of Health).

The “Health of King County 2006 report” provides a detailed look at injuries that affect King County residents:

• Health of King County, Chapter 7: Injuries and Violence
• Health of King County, Chapter 10: Drug-Induced (poisoning) deaths