NCIPC is pleased to announce the publication of The Incidence and Economic Burden of Injuries in the United States. The book provides a fresh look at the incidence and economic burden of injuries that occurred in 2000, including injury-attributable medical expenditures and the value of lost productivity resulting from these injuries. It updates the landmark study published by Dorothy Rice and Ellen MacKenzie et al. in 1989.

The book includes findings that the 50 million injuries that required medical treatment in 2000 will ultimately cost $406 billion. These total lifetime costs include estimates of $80.2 billion in medical care costs and $326 billion in productivity losses, which include lost wages and the accompanying fringe benefits, as well as the limited ability to perform normal household responsibilities. The Incidence and Economic Burden of Injuries in the United States examines these medical expenses and productivity losses by gender, age, mechanism of injury, body region and body part injured, and severity.

A few PowerPoint slides containing key information from the book are attached to this e-mail. You are welcome to use these slides in presentations or other ways that promote awareness of injury costs. These slides as well as additional findings and book-ordering information can be found at www.cdc.gov/injury.