Medical Trauma Research

Traumatic injury is the leading cause of death in people under the age of 50 and accounts for a substantial part of yearly medical care costs. In the year 2000 alone, 50 million injuries in the United States required medical treatment, costing $80.2 billion. The societal burden of traumatic injury is great. Costs for loss of productivity because of these injuries were $326 billion, four times the amount of acute medical [Page 376]care costs. Loss of life and physical disabilities contribute to these costs and so do the mental health effects leading to psychological disability account for a large part of the burden. Psychiatric disorders after traumatic injury are common. International studies found rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) between 17.5% and 42%, rates of ...