NCJ Number
175998
Date Published
1995
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This report summarizes injury data from the 1992 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS).
Abstract
The target universe of NHAMCS includes visits made in the United States by patients to emergency departments (EDs) and outpatient departments (OPDs) of non-Federal, short-stay, and general hospitals. In 1992, 34 million ED visits (37.8 percent) were injury-related. There were 13.5 injury visits to EDs for every 100 persons in the population. Males had a significantly higher rate of injury-related visits than did females. Accidental falls and motor vehicle accidents were the leading causes of injuries that resulted in visits to an emergency department. Together they accounted for 41 percent of specified causes of injury. Persons in the age groups under 15 years and 65 years and over had higher rates of visits for accidental falls compared with those 15-24 years, 25-44 years, and 45-64 years of age. "Open wound of head" was the most frequent principal diagnosis for injury-related ED visits. Wound care was performed at one- third of the injury-related visits. Medication was administered or prescribed at the majority of injury-related visits, with general analgesics most commonly mentioned. Over 9.2 billion dollars were spent on injury-related ED visits in 1992. 19 tables, 5 figures, and 12 references