摘要：In the United States, injuries are the leading cause of death among individuals aged 1 to 45 years and the fourth leading cause of death overall. Rural populations exhibit disproportionately high injury mortality rates. Deaths resulting from motor vehicle crashes, traumatic occupational injuries, drowning, residential fires, and suicide all increase with increasing rurality. We describe differences in rates and patterns of injury among rural and urban populations and discuss factors that contribute to these differences. TRAUMATIC INJURIES ARE A major public health problem in the United States. Injuries are the leading cause of death among those aged 1 to 45 years and the fourth leading cause among individuals of all ages. They account for 29% of all years of potential life lost among individuals aged younger than 65 years, representing the largest percentage associated with any cause of death. Injuries create an annual economic burden of more than $260 billion in the United States and are a leading contributor to disability and loss of quality of life. 1 Rural populations have been shown to have disproportionately high injury mortality rates, and decreasing population density is the strongest predictor of county-specific trauma death rates in the United States. 2, 3 Rural fatality rates are more than twice as high as urban rates in the case of a wide variety of injuries, including motor vehicle crashes, traumatic occupational injuries, drowning, unintentional firearm injuries, residential fires, electrocutions, and suicides. 2, 4, 5 Rural and urban environments are very different, and many factors may be related to disparities in injury rates. In the sections to follow, we describe differences in rates and patterns of injuries among rural and urban populations and discuss some of the contributing factors.
