Injury Prevention

Core Injury Surveillance and Program Development

The Injury Surveillance and Program Development project is a federally funded project aimed at establishing a coordinated state injury program to effectively address the burden of injuries in Georgia. The program seeks to reduce deaths and hospitalizations due to injuries by monitoring the incidence, trends, risk factors of several injury mechanisms such as motor vehicle crashes, falls, poisonings, fires, drowning, suicides, and homicides and using the information to guide prevention activities. The Injury Prevention Section works closely with the Chronic Disease, Injury and Environmental Health Epidemiology Section in its surveillance activities.

Georgia Injury Surveillance Figures:

• Deaths: Injuries in Georgia caused an average of 4,753 deaths per year from 1999 to 2001. Unintentional injuries accounted for an average of 3,147 deaths per year and were the 4th leading cause of death in Georgia. The top three causes of death for Georgians between the ages of 15 and 34 years were unintentional injuries, homicides and suicides.

• Hospitalizations: Between 1999-2001, more than 110,000 injury-related hospitalizations occurred (an average of 36,674 hospitalizations per year) resulting in an average of 201,300 days in hospital stay and nearly $668 million in hospital charges per year. Among all injury-related hospitalizations, 80% were unintentional in nature with 39% resulting from falls and 20% resulting from motor vehicle related injuries.

• Deaths: Motor vehicle crash-related injury is the leading cause of injury death in Georgia, accounting for 29% of all injury deaths and 43% of all unintentional injury deaths. From 1999-2001, 4077 Georgians died from injuries sustained in motor vehicle crashes, an average of 1,359 per year. Among these, 24% were between 15 and 24 years of age, 68% were male, and 72% were white.

• Hospitalizations: Motor vehicle crash-related injuries were the 2nd leading cause of injury hospitalizations, accounting for 20% of all injury hospitalizations. For 1999 to 2001, there were a total of 22,404 hospitalizations from motor vehicle crash related injuries, an average of 7,468 per year, resulting in an average of 49,960 hospitalization days and nearly $196 million in hospital charges per year. Georgians 15 to 24 years had the highest hospitalization rate from motor vehicle crash injuries compared to all other age groups.

• Deaths: From 1999-2001, 1,166 Georgians died from fall-related injuries, an average of 389 per year. Persons 65 years and older accounted for the 75% of fall related deaths.

• Hospitalizations: Falls were the leading cause of hospitalization among the major injury mechanisms, accounting for 40% of all injury hospitalizations. There were a total of 43,024 hospitalizations from falls between 1999 and 2001. These hospitalizations resulted in an average of 77,258 hospitalization days and nearly $214 million in hospital charges per year. Of those hospitalized for falls, 66% were females, 80% were whites, and 65% were persons 65 years and older.

• Deaths: From 1999 through 2001, 995 Georgians died from accidental poisoning, an average of 332 per year. Of those dying, the majority (83%) were aged 25 to 64 years, 65% were males and 75% were white.

• Hospitalizations: During the period 1999 through 2001, 3,987 Georgians were hospitalized for poisoning, an average of 1,329 per year, resulting in an average of 4,431 hospitalization days and nearly $11 million in hospital charges per year. Of those hospitalized, about 58% were 25 to 64 years old, 52% were females, and 62% were whites.

• Deaths: A total of 375 Georgians died from fires during 1999 to 2001, an average of 125 deaths per year. Victims were disproportionately elderly, with 34% being older than 65 years of age. Sixty percent were male and 52% were white. Blacks or African Americans were 3 times more likely to die from fires than whites. Black males had the highest fire death rate among all race/sex groups.

• Hospitalizations: There were 1,171 hospitalizations in 1999-2001 as a result of fire-related injuries (an average of 390 hospitalizations per year) resulting in an average 3,840 hospitalization days and nearly $24 million in hospital charges per year. Although fire accounted for only 1% of all injury-related hospitalizations, the average fire-related hospitalization lasted twice as long and cost 34 times more than other injury hospitalizations in Georgia. Of those hospitalized from fire-related injuries, 34% were elderly, 67% were males and 58% were whites.

• Deaths: From 1999 through 2001, 351 Georgians drowned, an average of 117 per year. Of these, 37% were children under the age of five or young adults between the ages of 15 and 24 years. Eighty percent (80%) were male, and 62% were white.

• Hospitalizations: From 1999 through 2001, 188 Georgians were hospitalized for near-drowning, an average of 63 per year, resulting in an average of 400 days in hospital stay and nearly $1.3 million in hospital charges per year. Although drowning incidents resulted in fewer hospitalizations than deaths, near-drowning ranked 2nd in hospital charges per visit among all the injury mechanisms, with average charges of approximately $21,000. Of all those hospitalized for near-drowning, 42% were children under 5 years of age.

• Deaths: Suicide is the second leading cause of injury death and the eleventh overall leading cause of death in Georgia. From 1999 through 2001, 2,620 Georgians committed suicide, an average of 873 deaths per year. Of those dying from suicide, 40% were 25 to 44 years of age, 80% were males, and 85% were white.

• Hospitalizations: Suicide attempts were the third leading cause of injury hospitalizations. From 1999 through 2001, a total of 6,688 Georgians were hospitalized for suicide attempts, an average of 2,229 per year, resulting in approximately 6,400 hospitalization days and $19.7 million in hospital charges per year. Of those hospitalized, about 51% were 25 through 44 years old, 61% were female and 73% were white. The majority (90%) of hospitalizations for suicide attempts were due to poisoning.

• Deaths: From 1999 through 2001, 1,936 Georgians died from homicide, an average of 645 per year. Of those dying, 73% were between the ages of 15 and 44 years, 74% were males and 60% were black. Black males were four times as likely to die from homicide than whites. Firearms were the most common method used for homicide in Georgia, accounting for 63% of all homicides from 1999 through 2001.

• Hospitalizations: There were a total of 5,972 injury hospitalizations from assaults from 1999 to 2001, an average of 1,991 per year, resulting in approximately 11,600 hospitalization days and $36.5 million in hospital charges per year. Of those hospitalized, about 75% were between the ages of 15 and 44 years, 78% were male and 58% were black.