HealthDay News – Almost four-fifths of deaths of young adults were due to injuries, with only one-fifth due to chronic diseases, and only 1% from infectious diseases, according to CDC researchers in a report published in The Lancet.
“Prevention has a strong scientific foundation, yet efforts are not fully implemented or integrated into clinical and community settings,” wrote Tamara M Haegerich, PhD, and colleagues from the CDC’s CDC’s division of unintentional injury prevention.
Suicides were more than twice as common as homicides (38,364 suicides versus 16,259 murders). The highest rates of suicide were found among Native American and Alaskan Natives (16.9 per 100,000) and whites (14.9 per 100,000).
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Homicide rates for blacks (18.6 per 100,000) were twice those of Native Americans and Alaskan Natives, and several times higher than other groups.
Compared with women, men were about four times more likely to commit suicide (nearly 20 per 100,000 versus five per 100,000) or murder (8.3 per 100,000 versus 2.2 per 100,000).
Deaths from narcotic painkillers such as oxycodone and hydrocodone nearly quadrupled since 1990, accounting for more than 38,300 deaths.
“We encourage partnerships between medical and public health communities to consistently frame injuries and violence as preventable, identify evidence-based interventions, provide scientific information to decision makers, and strengthen the capacity of an integrated health system to prevent injuries and violence,” wrote the researchers.
