QuickStats: Percentage of Injury Deaths* That Occurred in the Decedent’s Home for the Five Most Common Causes† of Injury Death§ — United States, 2016

Weekly / July 6, 2018 / 67(26);750

The figure above is a bar chart showing that in 2016, 31% of deaths from all causes of injury occurred in the person’s home. The percentage varied by the cause of injury. More than half of the deaths attributable to poisoning (52%) occurred in the home. Approximately 44% of deaths from firearms and suffocation occurred in the home.

* Includes deaths from all intents (i.e., unintentional injuries, suicides, homicides, deaths of undetermined intent, and deaths attributed to legal intervention).

† Poisoning includes both drug overdoses and nondrug intoxications (e.g., poisonings due to toxic substances or gases such as carbon monoxide). Suffocation includes hanging, asphyxiation, smothering, and other mechanical and nonmechanical threats to oxygenation (e.g., trapped in low oxygen environment). Causes are mutually exclusive.

§ Total number of deaths by cause of injury: all injury (231,991), poisoning (68,995), firearm (38,658), suffocation (18,924), fall (35,862), and motor vehicle traffic (38,748). Place of death was unknown for 112 deaths.

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In 2016, 31% of deaths from all causes of injury occurred in the person’s home. The percentage varied by the cause of injury. More than half of the deaths attributable to poisoning (52%) occurred in the home. Approximately 44% of deaths from firearms and suffocation occurred in the home.

Source: National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics System, Mortality File. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/deaths.htm.

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Reported by: Holly Hedegaard, MD, HHedegaard@cdc.gov, 301-458-4460.

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Suggested citation for this article: QuickStats: Percentage of Injury Deaths That Occurred in the Decedent’s Home for the Five Most Common Causes of Injury Death — United States, 2016. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2018;67:750. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6726a6 .