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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)

Incidence

Lifetime Medical Cost (2017 USD thousands)

Number with Non-missing Cost Data

Per- Injury Event Cost (2017 USD)

Count

Rate per 100,000 person years

All injuries

995,823

12,202

2,743,980

914,014

3000

Injury intent

 Unintentional

858,929

10,525

1,811,158

793,425

2280

 Intentional1

96,265

1179

236,258

87,986

2456

 Other/undetermined

40,629

498

696,564

32,603

17,157

Injury cause

 Falls

237,057

2904

652,967

237,057

2760

 Struck by/against

155,654

1908

296,880

155,654

1910

 Overexertion

97,772

1198

162,621

97,772

1660

 Natural/environmental

85,122

1043

177,339

85,122

2080

 Cut/pierce

72,816

892

105,206

72,816

1450

 Motor vehicle/traffic2,3

43,064

527

202,558

42,292

4790

 Other, transportation2

21,296

261

69,296

21,296

3250

 Fire/burn

20,667

253

30,550

20,667

1480

 Poisoning

16,859

207

57,001

16,859

3380

 Other, pedal cyclists2

8014

98

21,792

8014

2720

 Machinery

3315

41

5359

3315

1620

 Suffocation

1863

22

9894

1863

5310

 Firearms3

1387

17

5061

1278

3960

 Other, pedestrian2,3

1249

15

3721

795

4680

 Drowning3

221

3

724

102

7100

 Other specified4

93,075

1141

142,126

93,075

1530

 Unspecified4,5

136,392

1671

800,885

56,037

14,290

  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).