This chart provides the preventable injury-related death totals by sex for 2017, as well as the breakdown of fatalities by leading causes of death.
Overall, males accounted for 65% of the 169,936 preventable injury-related deaths in 2017. The largest differences in the proportion of fatalities were:
- struck by or against(87% male)
- drowning (76% male)
- motor vehicle deaths (71% male)
The cause with the smallest difference between the proportion of male and female fatalities was falls (51% male) and choking (55% male).
Differences in deaths and death rates by age, sex and cause for 1999 through 2017 may be explored using the interactive chart on the Data Details tab.
- Chart
- Data Table
Preventable-injury-related deaths by sex and Cause, United States, 2017
| Leading Causes | Male | Female |
| Poisoning | 44,545 | 20,250 |
| Motor vehicle | 28,629 | 11,602 |
| Falls | 18,392 | 17,946 |
| Other causes | 8,154 | 4,876 |
| Choking (b) | 2,860 | 2,356 |
| Drowning (a) | 2,802 | 907 |
| Fire flames smoke | 1,666 | 1,146 |
| Mechanical suffocation | 1,106 | 624 |
| Natural heat or cold | 865 | 404 |
| Struck by or against | 703 | 103 |
(a) Excludes water transport drownings.
(b) Inhalation or ingestion of food or other objects.
Source: National Center for Health Statistics-Mortality Data for 2017, as compiled from data provided by the 57 vital statistics jurisdictions through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program.