U.S. hospitals spend roughly $20 billion to treat the nearly two million Americans injured seriously enough each year to require inpatient care, according to a new report by the government’s Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Medicare and Medicaid are billed for almost half of all injury cases, and more than 12% of hospital stays of injured patients are uninsured. Here’s the breakdown, by type of injury:

- Broken bones. Factures of the hip, leg, spine, rib and pelvis, arm, and skull are the number one type of injury hospitalizations. They account for nearly one million admissions a year.

- Poisonings. Overdosing on medications or other substances or being given or taking the wrong drug are the second most common cause of injury hospitalizations. They account for roughly one-quarter of a million cases.

- Brain injury. Some 186,000 patients a year are admitted for trauma to the head. Statistically, it is the deadliest injury; one in 10 patients dies in the hospital. Other deadly injuries, measured by their in-hospital death rates, are spinal cord injury (5.7%), burns, and crushing or internal injury (about 4% each), and hip fracture (2.9%).

The most frequent cause of injury was falls, which account for nearly 475,000 admissions and represent 68% of all injury hospitalizations in patients age 65 and older. Other leading causes of injury-related  hospitalizations include motor vehicle crashes, head or body blows, cutting or piercing wounds, gunshots and other transportation crashes, which range from horseback riding to boating accidents.

From the Archive:

Jun. 16, 2006: Why Men Go to the Hospital