4.6 Article

Lifetime Risk of Death From Firearm Iniuries, Drug Overdoses, and Motor Vehicle Accidents in the United States

Journal

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF MEDICINE
Volume 133, Issue 10, Pages 1162-+

Publisher

ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC
DOI: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2020.03.047

Keywords

Drug overdoses; Firearm injuries; Motor vehicle accidents

Funding

  1. National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland [MD002265]

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BACKGROUND: News media and policy makers frequently discuss deaths from firearms, drug overdoses, and motor vehicle accidents. However, this information is generally presented as absolute numbers or annual rates. Cumulative lifetime risk may be an additional useful metric for understanding the impact of these causes of death. METHODS: Data on all-cause firearm, drug overdose, and motor vehicle accident deaths were obtained from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for the year 2018. Age-specific death rates were used to estimate the cumulative risk of firearm, drug overdose, and motor vehicle accident deaths from birth to age 85 after accounting for other causes of death. RESULTS: The lifetime risk of death from firearms, drug overdoses, and motor vehicle accidents was 0.93% (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.92%-0.94%), 1.52% (95% CI, 1.51%-1.53%), and 0.92% (95% CI, 0.91%-0.93%), respectively. Black males had a 2.61% (95% CI, 2.55%-2.66%) lifetime risk of firearm death, indicating that 1 out of 38 black males will die from firearms if current death rates persist. Residents of West Virginia had a 3.54% lifetime risk of drug overdose death, equivalent to 1 out of every 28 residents dying from overdoses. CONCLUSIONS: The lifetime risk of death from firearms, drug overdoses, and motor vehicle accidents is substantial and varies greatly across demographic subgroups and states. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc.

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