A new report (PDF) released by the Oregon Health Authority reveals important data about the 18,131 Oregonians who went through the trauma injury system between 2010 and 2011.
The report provides an important analysis of both biking and driving injuries. Of all the injury “mechanisms” tracked in the report, traffic crashes were the leading culprit. (Falls were close behind in total number of injuries and they were the leading cause of deaths.) In addition to the data, the report’s authors have shared a list of recommendations to help lower the rate of traumatic injury in Oregon.
Before I share some of the findings, keep in mind that this data only applies to patients that went through the Oregon Trauma System, a network of 50 hospitals (44 are in Oregon, the others are in Idaho, Washington, and California). This data does not include people who were not transported to the hospital, people who were declared dead at the scene, those who refused care, and those who were treated at a non-trauma hospital. For context, trauma injuries make up roughly half of all hospitalized injuries.
That being said, let’s get into the numbers…
