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Injury

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Abstract

Injury is among the most important public health problems in terms of the number of people affected, and severity in cases of permanent disability and death. About one third of the population of the United States is injured severely enough in a year to report an injury in the National Health Survey (National Center for Health Statistics, 1981). Some of these are undoubtedly trivial but others that are not so minor may not be reported. The extent of permanent disability has not been documented adequately. Studies of paralysis from spinal cord injury (Kraus, Franti, Riggins, Richards, & Borhani, 1975), epilepsy from head trauma (Annegers et al., 1980) as well as other sequelae (Rimmel, Giordani, Barth, & Jane, 1982) suggest that tens of thousands of new cases are added annually. The most accurate data on injuries is the number of deaths attributable to them. In recent years more than 150,000 persons died each year as a result of trauma.

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  1. Nanlee Research, 2 Montgomery Parkway, Branford, CT, 06405, USA

    Leon S. Robertson

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  1. West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA

    Barry A. Edelstein

  2. Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

    Larry Michelson

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© 1986 Plenum Press, New York

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Robertson, L.S. (1986). Injury. In: Edelstein, B.A., Michelson, L. (eds) Handbook of Prevention. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-5044-6_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-5044-6_15

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