RT Book, Section A1 Hemmila, Mark R. A2 Doherty, Gerard M. SR Print(0) ID 1171275378 T1 Management of the Injured Patient T2 Current Diagnosis & Treatment: Surgery, 15e YR 2020 FD 2020 PB McGraw Hill LLC PP New York, NY SN 9781260122213 LK accesssurgery.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1171275378 RD 2024/10/10 AB As a “disease,” trauma is a major public health problem. In the United States, it is the leading cause of death among people aged 1-45. For younger persons, trauma is responsible for more deaths than all other diseases combined, and results in the loss of more working years than all other causes of death. The prevalence of injury in the elderly population is also significant; 6% of Medicare inpatient admissions have traumatic injury as their primary diagnosis. The presence of alcohol is a significant contributor to trauma fatalities, and one-third of all traffic deaths are alcohol related. The financial costs of injury are substantial, exceeding $671 billion annually (fatal inquiries, $214 billion; nonfatal injuries, $457 billion). Regrettably, nearly 40% of all trauma deaths could be avoided by injury-prevention measures, alcohol cessation, and by the establishment of regional trauma systems that would expedite the evaluation and treatment of seriously injured patients.