The Economics of Injury and Violence Prevention

The 2019 cost of injury in the U.S. was $4.2 trillion, according to a report in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The costs include spending on health care, lost work productivity, as well as estimates of cost for lost quality of life and lives lost.

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A separate report estimates the cost of fatal injuries for states. The states with the highest per capita 2019 cost of fatal injuries were West Virginia, New Mexico, Alaska, and Louisiana. The states with the lowest fatal injury costs were New York, California, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Texas. All states face substantial avoidable costs due to injury deaths.

You can use WISQARS to explore data on fatal and nonfatal cost of injury:

• Select a filter, such as data year, age, and geography
• Compare costs by mechanism and intent of injury
• Save and share cost data files

Fatal opioid overdoses and opioid use disorder cost the United States $1.02 trillion in 2017. The most complete accounting to date of America’s opioid crisis was released by CDC in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence. Costs for spending on health care, opioid use disorder treatment, criminal justice, and lost work productivity, as well as estimates of cost for lost quality of life and lives lost were computed in this study.

This CDC study expands and updates two prior estimates of the cost of the opioid crisis: a 2016 CDC economic cost study and a 2017 report released by the White House Council of Economic Advisors. In 2017, more than 2.1 million people over age 12 had an opioid use disorder, and over 47,000 opioid overdose deaths occurred.

Key findings include:

• The value of life lost due to overdose deaths was $480.7 billion.
• Opioid use disorder accounted for $471.0 billion.
• Almost $35 billion was spent on health care and opioid use disorder treatment.
  • Healthcare costs were $31.3 billion
  • Opioid use disorder treatment was $3.5 billion
• Criminal justice spending accounted for $14.8 billion.

For more information on Opioid Overdose, visit www.cdc.gov/opioids.

Unintentional and violence-related injuries cause more than 240,000 deaths among people of all ages in the United States each year. Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death for people ages 1-44.

A greater number of people experience nonfatal injuries each year. Nonfatal injuries can cause life-long mental, physical, and financial problems.

Fatal and nonfatal injuries are costly. A recent CDC study estimated the medical care cost of U.S. fatal and nonfatal injuries by type of injury.

• The average medical cost of all fatal injuries was approximately $41,570 per hospitalized patient and $6,880 per emergency department patient. Each year approximately 50,000 people die in hospitals from injuries, and approximately 30,000 die in emergency departments from injuries.
• The average one-year medical cost of all nonfatal injuries per person initially treated in an emergency department was approximately $6,620. Each year there are approximately 28 million emergency department visits for nonfatal injuries.

Injuries can cause lost productivity at work. A recent CDC study estimated the lost work productivity cost of U.S. nonfatal injuries by type of injury.

People treated for nonfatal injuries in an emergency department lose on average 11 days of work, valued at $1,590 per person.

A recent CDC study showed that the estimated medical cost of older adult falls across the U.S. healthcare system is $50 billion annually. This includes $38 billion paid by Medicare and Medicaid and $12 billion paid by private and other payers.

Older adult falls can be prevented. Initiatives like Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths, and Injuries (STEADI) can improve health and decrease the future economic burden of older adult falls. STEADI recommendations include screening older adults to identify their fall risk, assessing at‐risk individuals to identify their modifiable fall risk factors, and intervening by using effective strategies to reduce fall risk factors.

Cost of Injuries

• Average lost work productivity due to nonfatal injuries by type in the USA
• Average medical cost of fatal and nonfatal injuries by type in the USA
• Cost of Injury Reports: Customize and Generate Data Tables
• Economic cost of injury, United States, 2019
• State-level economic costs of fatal injuries, United States, 2019

Cost of Violence

• Lifetime economic burden of intimate partner violence among US adults
• Short-term lost productivity per victim: intimate partner violence, sexual violence, or stalking
• Lifetime economic burden of rape among US adults
• The impact of the low-income housing tax credit on children’s health and wellbeing in Georgia
• The economic burden of child maltreatment in the United States, 2015
• Cost-benefit analysis of two child abuse and neglect primary prevention programs for US states
• Economics and violence against children, findings from the Violence Against Children Survey in Nigeria
• Effect of the earned income tax credit on hospital admissions for pediatric abusive head trauma, 1995-2013
• Paid family leave’s effect on hospital admissions for pediatric abusive head trauma
• Annual cost of U.S. hospital visits for pediatric abusive head trauma

Cost of Unintentional Injuries

• State-Level Economic Costs of Opioid Use Disorder and Fatal Opioid Overdose — United States, 2017
• Costs of Nonfatal Traumatic Brain Injury in the United States, 2016
• Estimating the Economic Burden Related to Older Adult Falls by State
• Medical costs of fatal and nonfatal falls in older adults
• Preventing deaths and injuries from house fires: A cost-benefit analysis of a community-based smoke alarm installation programme
• The Economic Burden of Prescription Opioid Overdose, Abuse, and Dependence in the United States, 2013
• Payments for opioids shifted substantially to public and private insurers while consumer spending declined, 1999-2012
• A cost-benefit analysis of three older adult fall prevention interventions