America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2007

Adolescent Injury and Mortality

Injury accounts for close to 80 percent of adolescent deaths. Compared with younger children, adolescents ages 15–19 have much higher mortality rates overall and from injuries. Adolescents are much more likely to die from injuries sustained from motor vehicle traffic accidents and firearms.⁹⁰ The leading causes of nonfatal injuries in adolescents also differ from younger children. For example, the leading cause of adolescent injury is being struck, whereas for younger children, the leading cause of injury is falls. In addition, non-fatal injuries in adolescents more often result from violence, sports-related activities, or motor vehicle traffic crashes. For each fatal injury among adolescents, there are 11 hospitalizations and nearly 300 emergency department visits for injuries.⁸⁹

Indicator PHY7.A: Emergency department visit rates for adolescents ages 15–19 by leading causes of injury visits, 2003–2004

• The leading causes of initial injury-related emergency department visits among adolescents ages 15–19 in 2003–2004 were being struck by or against an object (33 visits per 1,000), motor vehicle traffic crashes (25 visits per 1,000), and falls (20 visits per 1,000), altogether accounting for half of all injury-related emergency department visits for this age group.
• Injury emergency department visits for adolescents being struck by or against an object or person were most often the result of a sports-related activity (39 percent)⁹¹ or an assault (24 percent).
• In 2003–2004 among adolescents' emergency department visits for poisonings, about one-third were unintentional and more than one-half were recorded as self-inflicted.
• Although the emergency department visit rate for poisonings among youth ages 15–19 is low (6 visits per 1,000), one-third of such visits result in admission to the hospital.

Indicator PHY7.B: Death rates among adolescents ages 15–19 by all causes, all injury causes, and selected mechanisms of injury, 1980–2004

• In 2004, the death rate for adolescents ages 15–19 was 66 per 100,000. Nearly 80 percent of adolescent deaths occurred from injuries (51 per 100,000). Both rates declined substantially since 1980 despite a period of increase from 1986–1991.
• Motor vehicle traffic and firearm injuries account for more than half of adolescent injury deaths. The motor vehicle traffic death rate declined since 1980, while the firearm death rate was steady from 1980–1987, increased from 1987–1994, and declined by more than half since 1994.
• Injury deaths can also be reported by the manner, or intent, of death. Unintentional injury accounts for about half of all injury deaths among adolescents. In 2004, this rate was 33 deaths per 100,000 youth ages 15–19, unchanged from 2003. The leading mechanisms of unintentional injury deaths for this age group are motor vehicle traffic injuries, poisoning, and drowning.
• Among intentional injuries, the homicide rate in 2004 was 9 deaths per 100,000 youth ages 15–19, unchanged since 2000. The suicide rate in 2004, 8 deaths per 100,000 youth, was the same rate as in 2000 and was an increase from the 2003 rate of 7 deaths per 100,000 youth. In 2004, firearms accounted for four of five homicides and nearly half of all suicides. Suffocation, mainly from hanging, accounted for 40 percent of suicides.

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