miércoles, 9 de mayo de 2012

CDC - Injury Center: Overview

CDC - Injury Center: Overview

Saving Lives and Protecting People from Injuries and Violence

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In the United States...
Photo: Young woman driving a car
  • More than 180,000 people die from injuries each year—1 person every 3 minutes.5
  • Injuries are the leading cause of death for people ages 1–44.5  
  • Injuries cost more than $406 billion annually in medical care and lost productivity.6

Injury and Violence: Important Public Health Issues

We all know someone whose life has been affected by injury or violence: A child who was killed in a car crash. A friend who lost a loved one to suicide. An older relative who fell and fractured a hip.
Injuries and violence affect everyone, regardless of age, race, or economic status. For Americans 1 to 44 years of age, injuries are the number-one killer. In fact, people in that age group are more likely to die from an injury—such as a motor vehicle crash, fall, or homicide—than from any other cause, including cancer, HIV, or the flu.

Prevention Saves Lives  

Injuries are so common that we often accept them as just part of life. But injuries are not accidents. Injuries can be prevented, and their consequences can be reduced. We know prevention works. For example:
  • Seat belts have saved an estimated 255,000 lives between 1975 and 2008.1
  • School-based programs to prevent violence have cut violent behavior among high school students by 29%.2
  • Sobriety checkpoints have been shown to cut alcohol-related crashes and deaths by about 20%.3 
  • Tai chi and other exercise programs for older adults have been shown to reduce falls by as much as half among participants.4

CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control

Injury: A Leading Cause of Death

In 2007 in the United States, injuries, including all causes of unintentional and violence-related injuries combined, accounted for 51% of all deaths among persons ages 1-44 years of age – that is more deaths than non-communicable diseases and infectious diseases combined.
More people ages 1–44 die from injuries than from any other cause, including cancer, HIV, or the flu.5
CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (Injury Center) is committed to saving lives and protecting our nation from injuries and violence. The Injury Center is the only U.S. federal agency that deals exclusively with injury and violence prevention in non-occupational settings. It leads a coordinated public health approach to tackling this critical health and safety issue. The Center’s work is guided by the belief that everyone should have access to the best information and resources to help them live life to its fullest potential.

Putting Science into Action to Prevent Injuries and Violence

The following examples offer a glimpse of the depth and breadth of the Injury Center’s activities and programs:

Identifying and Monitoring the Injury  Problem

The Injury Center develops and uses cutting-edge data systems to track injuries and deaths by age, race, and a host of other factors. These powerful tools ensure that prevention initiatives are guided by the best available science and research. By studying patterns in data, the Injury Center can better understand the nature and scope of an injury or violence problem, measure how well prevention efforts are working, and identify emerging issues. Through the National Violent Death Reporting System, for instance, the Center gathers, shares, and links comprehensive state-level data on violent deaths.

Conducting Research to Guide Decision Making

The Injury Center conducts and funds a wide range of research that provides vital knowledge about what works in injury and violence prevention. This knowledge informs decision making about programs and policies to reduce injuries and violence, facilitating wise investments of prevention resources. For example, Injury Center research showed that state 0.08% BAC (blood alcohol concentration) laws effectively reduced alcohol-related traffic deaths.7 This finding served as a foundation for tying federal highway funds to 0.08% BAC laws.

Empowering States Through Funding and Technical Assistance

The Injury Center provides critical funding and technical assistance to states through its Core Violence and Injury Prevention Program. The program strengthens states’ capacity to collect and use data to better understand the local injury environment and challenges, plan injury prevention and control efforts, and carry out and evaluate potentially life-saving interventions for their residents. Additionally, through the Rape Prevention and Education Program, the Center provides funding to strengthen sexual violence prevention efforts in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and six U.S. territories.

Building Effective Partnerships for Prevention

Injury and violence prevention takes coordinated efforts across agencies, organizations, and sectors. The Injury Center works with a variety of partners—from local health departments to national corporations—to make people safer where they live, play, work, and learn. For example, a successful partnership with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) helps raise awareness of concussions and improve prevention and treatment of these traumatic brain injuries.

Building Awareness Through Communication and Education

The Injury Center uses innovative communication campaigns, trainings, and program materials to educate and states, health care providers, policy makers, public health practitioners, and the public and to advance prevention initiatives and promote policies that save lives. For example, through CDC’s Vital Signs program, the Injury Center spotlights issues such as prescription painkiller overdoses, alcohol-impaired driving, and seat belt use to raise awareness about the problem and promote proven solutions.

Preventing Injuries and Violence Globally

Injury and violence are worldwide problems. The Injury Center collaborates with partners and governments around the world, sharing vital lessons learned that can be put to work abroad. In India, Colombia, and Iraq, for example, the Injury Center is helping to build more effective trauma care programs to improve care for the injured.

CDC’s Commitment to Prevention

CDC’s Injury Center is committed to continuing its work to prevent injuries and violence. Prevention is the most effective, common-sense way to improve health and lower societal costs of medical care and loss of work related to injuries and violence. Our priority is to equip states and the District of Columbia, local communities, and partner organizations with the best science, tools, and resources so that they can take effective action to save lives and protect people from injuries and violence.
Join us in making injury and violence prevention the premiere public health achievement of the next decade!

Learn More: Saving Lives and Protecting People

CDC Injury Center Focus Areas

References

  1. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Traffic Safety Facts: Occupant Protection. 2008 Data. Pub. No. DOT HS 811 160.  Available from: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811160.pdf Adobe PDF fileExternal Web Site Icon
  2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Effectiveness of Universal School-Based Programs for the Prevention of Violent and Aggressive Behavior A Report on Recommendations of the Task Force on Community Preventive Services. MMWR Recommendations and Reports 2007; 56(RR-7).
  3. CDC. Research Update: Sobriety Checkpoints Are Effective in Reducing Alcohol-Related Crashes Av. [updated 2011 Jun 11; accessed 2011 Nov 11. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/MotorVehicleSafety/Impaired_Driving/checkpoint.html
  4. CDC. Stevens JA. A CDC Compendium of Effective Fall Interventions: What Works for Community-Dwelling Older Adults. 2nd ed. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, 2010.
  5. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) [online] (2007) [accessed 2011 Mar 4]. Available from URL: http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars
  6. Finkelstein EA, Corso PS, Miller TR, Associates. Incidence and economic burden of injuries in the United States. New York, NY: Oxford University Press; 2006.
  7. NHTSA. .08 BAC Illegal per se Level. Traffic Safety Facts: Laws. March 2004;2(1). Available from: http://www.nhtsa.gov/people/injury/new-fact-sheet03/fact-sheets04/Laws-08BAC.pdf Adobe PDF fileExternal Web Site Icon

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