Trauma Is The Leading Cause of Death …
We read this phrase all the time, in the newspapers and in many journal articles relating to trauma. Where do they get this? Well, it comes from mortality statistics compiled by the Center for Disease Control.
Trauma IS the leading cause of death in ages 1-44. In infants, congenital defects cause the most deaths and trauma is only #4. At age 45 and above, it begins to drop off, but stays in the top 5 until age 65 when it drops to #9. Overall, trauma is the #5 killer for all age groups combined.
This image shows the top 5 causes of death across all age groups. The blue boxes are unintentional trauma, the red boxes are homicide, and the green boxes are suicide.
One fact that tends to surprise people is that suicide is such a common cause of death. Suicides are not typically reported in the news, so most people are unaware unless it involves their family or friends.
