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4. Definition and Calculation of Cost Estimates

Estimated total lifetime medical and work loss costs due to injury-related deaths occurring in a typical year can be included in maps of individual states. This information can be included in maps showing either crude or age-adjusted rates. Cost information is not available for maps showing rates that have been geospatially smoothed, and is not available for maps in which the mechanism of injury includes adverse effects.

Unit (per death) lifetime medical and work loss cost estimates expressed in 2005 U.S. dollars were developed under a contract with the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE).⁴ These unit cost estimates are used to estimate total lifetime medical and work loss costs associated with injury-related deaths occurring over the period 2000–2006. Estimated costs are adjusted using state-specific price indices. The resulting figures are then divided by the number of years in the reporting period (seven) to obtain estimates of total lifetime medical and work loss costs due to injury-related deaths occurring in a typical year.

County-level cost estimates are comparable within each state but not across states. Additional details on the cost-of-fatal-injury estimation methods used in WISQARS Fatal Injury Mapping are provided in the PIRE methods report⁴ and in Finkelstein et al 2006.⁵

Note: When the selected injury type is traumatic brain injury (TBI) only (see Injury Type Options) the unit cost estimates for each TBI-related case are assigned entirely to TBI, even when other injury-related diagnoses are also indicated. The resulting cost estimates therefore represent all lifetime medical and work loss costs associated with TBI-related deaths.

WISQARS^TM Fatal Injury Mapping