The top three leading causes of preventable injury-related death (poisoning, falls, and motor vehicle) account for 86% of all preventable deaths. No other preventable cause of death (including suffocation, drowning, fires and burns, and natural or environmental disasters) accounts for more than 3% of the total. In contrast, nonfatal emergency department visits are dominated by fall-related injuries, accounting for 35% of all preventable nonfatal injuries. Struck by or against is the only other injury event accounting for more than 10% of the total (12%). Motor-vehicle occupant injuries account for 9% of the visits while overexertion accounts for 8%.
Only three injury causes are in the top 10 for both deaths and nonfatal injuries:
Source:
Fatality data: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC), Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) and WONDER data system.
Nonfatal data: National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) All Injury Program, Office of Statistics and Programming, NCIPC, CDC, WISQARS, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission.