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OCR for page 8
THE MAGNITUDE OF THE PROBLEM
Deaths
Accidents are the leading cause of death among persons between
the ages of 1 and 37; and they are the fourth leading cause of
death at all ages. Among accidental deaths, those due to motor
vehicles constitute the leading cause for all age groups under 75.
Since 1903, when the "horseless carriage" toll assumed signifi-
cance, there have been more than 6,500,000 deaths from accidents
in this country, over 1,690,000 involving motor vehicles. In 1965,
the accident death toll was approximately 107,000, including
49,000 from motor vehicles, 28,500 at home, and 14,100 at work.
Deaths from traffic injuries have increased annually; 10,000 more
were killed in 1965 than in 1955, and the increase from 1964 to
1965 was 3 percent. Seventy percent of the motor vehicle deaths
occurred in rural areas and in communities with populations
under 2500.~
Despite increasing mechanization, death rates from work acci-
dents in manufacturing have decreased in the past 33 years, from
approximately 37 accidental deaths per 100,000 workers in 1933
to a rate of 20 per 100,000 in 1965.~ This reduction is due largely
to education, training, and surveillance of industrial workers, and
elimination of hazardous machinery in industrial plants. Similar
efforts should be directed to the increasing millions of drivers
and to vehicles.
The tragedy of the high accidental death rate is that trauma kills
thousands who otherwise could expect to live long and productive
lives, whereas those afflicted with malignancy, heart disease,
stroke, and many chronic diseases usually die late in life. Thus
many more millions of productive man-years are lost owing to
deaths from accidents than from chronic diseases among older
persons.
The human suffering and financial loss from preventable acci-
dental death constitute a public health problem second only to the
ravages of ancient plagues or world wars. In one year alone
vehicle accidents kill more than we lost in the Korean War, and in
the past 60 years more Americans have died from accidents than
from combat wounds in all of our Warsaw In the 20-year period
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from 1945 through 1964, there were over 97,000 accidental
deaths among military personnel, predominantly caused by motor
vehicles.
Disability
The total number of nondisabling injuries treated at home, in
doctors' offices, in outpatient clinics or in emergency departments
is unknown. In 1965, disabling injuries numbered over 10,500,000,
including 400,000 that resulted in some degree of permanent
impairment. It is estimated that the number of United States
citizens now physically impaired by injuries is over 11 million,
including nearly 200,000 persons who have lost a leg, a foot, an
arm, or a hand and 50(),000 with varying degrees of impaired
· · ~
v~s~on.
Costs
In 1965, accident costs totaled about $18 billion, including wage
losses of $5.3 billion, medical expenses of $1.8 billion, adminis-
trative and claim settlements of $3.6 billion, property loss in fires
of $1.4 billion, property damage in motor-vehicle accidents of
$3.1 billion, and indirect cost of work accidents of $2.8 billion.
The total approaches the current national annual appropriation
for conducting the war in Vietnam.
Medical Load
The care of accident cases imposes a staggering load on physicians,
paramedical personnel, and hospitals. Approximately one of every
four Americans suffers an accident of some degree each year. Of
the more than 52,000,000 persons injured in 1965, although many
were treated at home or at work, most received medical attention
in physicians' offices or in outpatient or emergency departments
of hospitals. It is estimated that in 1965 more than 2,000,000
victims of accidental injury were hospitalized; they occupied
65,000 hospital beds for 22,000,000 bed-days and received the
services of 88,00() hospital personnel. This exceeds the number of
bed-days required to care for the 4 million babies born each year
or for all the heart patients and it is more than four times greater
than that required for cancer patients. Approximately 1 of 8 beds
in general hospitals in the United States is occupied by an
accident victims
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
leading cause
