In a new report, “The Facts Hurt: A State-By-State Injury Prevention Policy Report,” California ranked fourth lowest for the number of injury-related deaths in the state, with a rate of 44.6 per 100,000 people.
Overall, the national rate is 58.4 per 100,000.
Rates in California decreased over the past four years for injury deaths, which includes drug overdoses, motor vehicle crashes, homicides and others.
Overall, 17 states increased, 24 remained stable and nine decreased. Injuries are the leading cause of death for Americans ages 1 to 44 – and are responsible for nearly 193,000 deaths per year.
Drug overdoses have become the leading cause of injury in 36 states, including California, surpassing motor vehicle-related deaths.
Nationally, drug overdose deaths have more than doubled in the past 14 years – resulting in 44,000 deaths per year, and half of those deaths (22,000) are related to prescription drugs. California ranked ninth lowest for drug overdose deaths – at a rate of 10.7 per 100,000 people.
California scored seven out of 10 on key indicators of steps states can take to prevent injuries – nationally, 29 states and Washington, D.C. scored a five or lower. New York received the highest score of nine out of a possible 10 points, while four states scored the lowest, Florida, Iowa, Missouri and Montana, with two out of 10 points.
The key indicators include having seat laws; mandatory ignition interlocks for all convicted drunk drivers, even first offenders; requiring booster seats up to at least the age of 8; driver licensing for teens; requiring bicycle helmets for all children; homicide rate at or below national goal of 5.5 per 100,000 people; child abuse and neglect rates at or below the national rate of 9.1 per 1,000 children (in 2013); deaths from unintentional falls below national goal of 7.2 per 100,000 people (2011-13 data); a mandatory prescription drug monitoring program; and the state law allows prescribing and access to naloxone – a drug used to counteract overdoses – for use by laypersons.
“Injuries are not just acts of fate. Research shows they are pretty predictable and preventable,” said Jeffrey Levi, PhD, executive director of TFAH. “This report illustrates how evidence-based strategies can actually help prevent and reduce motor vehicle crashes, head injuries, fires, falls, homicide, suicide, assaults, sexual violence, child abuse, drug misuse, overdoses and more. It’s not rocket science, but it does require common sense and investment in good public health practice.”
Some key findings include:
– Drug abuse: More than 2 million Americans misuse prescription drugs. The prescription drug epidemic is also contributing to an increase in heroin use; the number of new heroin users has doubled in the past seven years.
– Motor vehicle deaths: Rates have declined 25 percent in the past decade (to 33,000 per year).
– Homicides: Rates have dropped 42 percent in the past 20 years (to 16,000 per year). The rate of black male youth (ages 10 to 24) homicide victims is 10 times higher than for the overall population. One in three female homicide victims is killed by an intimate partner.
– Suicides: Rates have remained stable for the past 20 years (41,000 per year). More than one million adults attempt suicide and 17 percent of teens seriously consider suicide each year. Seventy percent of suicides deaths are among White males.
– Falls: One in three Americans over the age of 64 experiences a serious fall each year, falls are the most common nonfatal injuries, and the number of fall injuries and deaths are expected to increase as the Baby Boomer cohort ages.
– Traumatic brain injuries from sports/recreation among children and youths have increased by 60 percent in the past decade.
“Injuries are persistent public health problems. New troubling trends, like the prescription drug overdose epidemic, increasing rates of fall-related deaths and traumatic brain injuries, are serious and require immediate response,” said Corrine Peek-Asa, MPH, PhD, Professor and Associate Dean for Research at the College of Public Health, University of Iowa. “But, we cannot afford to neglect or divert funds from ongoing concerns like motor vehicle crashes, drownings, assaults and suicides. We spend less than the cost of a box of bandages, at just $.028 per person per year on core injury prevention programs in this country.”
“This report provides state leaders and policymakers with the information needed to make evidence-based decisions to not only save lives, but also save state and taxpayers’ money,” said Amber Williams, executive director of the Safe States Alliance. “The average injury-related death in the U.S. costs over $1 million in medical costs and lost wages. Preventing these injuries will allow for investments in other critical areas including education and infrastructure.”
For the state-by-state scoring, states received one point for achieving an indicator or zero points if they did not achieve the indicator. Zero is the lowest possible overall score, 10 is the highest.
States scored as follows:
– 9 out of 10: New York.
– 8 out of 10: Delaware.
– 7 out of 10: California, New Jersey, North Carolina, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia.
– 6 out of 10: Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island and Virginia.
– 5 out of 10: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Utah, Vermont and Wisconsin.
– 4 out of 10: Arizona, District of Columbia, Idaho, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania.
– 3 out of 10: Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming.
– 2 out of 10: Florida, Iowa, Missouri and Montana.
A full list of all of the indicators and scores is available along with the full report on TFAH's Web site at www.healthyamericans.org .
The report was supported by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.