The Facts Hurt

The Facts Hurt: A State-By-State Injury Prevention Policy Report, includes state-by-state injury death rates and rankings, and a report card for how well states scored on 10 key indicators of steps states can take to prevent injuries. Some featured topics include seat belts, drunk driving, motorcycle helmets, domestic violence, prescription drug abuse and concussions in youth sports. The report found that 24 states scored a five or lower on a set of 10 key indicators of steps states can take to prevent injuries. Two states, California and New York, received the highest score of nine out of a possible 10, while two states scored the lowest, Montana and Ohio, with two out of 10. The Facts Hurt report, released by the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), concludes that millions of injuries could be prevented each year if more states adopted additional research-based injury prevention policies, and if programs were fully implemented and enforced. The report was developed in partnership with leading injury prevention experts from the Safe States Alliance and the Society for the Advancement of Violence and Injury Research (SAVIR).

Injuries – including those caused by accidents and violence – are the third leading cause of death nationally, and they are the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of one and 44. Overall, New Mexico has the highest rate of injury-related deaths in the United States, at a rate of 97.8 per 100,000 people, while New Jersey has the lowest rate at 36.1 per 100,000. Overall, the national rate is 57.9 per 100,000 Americans who die in injury-related fatalities. Approximately 50 million Americans are medically treated for injuries each year, and more than 2.8 million are hospitalized. Nearly 12,000 children and teens die from injuries resulting from accidents each year and around 9.2 million are treated in emergency rooms. Every year, injuries generate $406 billion in lifetime costs for medical care and lost productivity.