Mission
Injury is a major public health problem in Miami-Dade County. Injuries were the leading cause of death in 2007 for county residents between the ages 1 to 44 years. Further, for every injury-related death to a county resident there were an additional 12 nonfatal hospitalizations due to an injury during 2007.
Injury Deaths
Injuries were responsible for 1,322 resident deaths in 2007, an increase of 4% from 1,267 injury-related deaths in 2006.
Unintentional (accidental) injuries accounted for 813 (62%) of injury deaths, followed by suicides (268 deaths, 20%) and homicides (239 deaths, 18%).
Suicides increased by 77 deaths in 2007 and reached the highest age-adjusted rate observed this decade (10.5/100,000).
Firearm injuries (24%) were the leading cause of injury-related death followed by motor vehicle traffic crashes (23%), poisonings (13%) and falls (12%).
Firearms took the lives of 318 county residents, an increase of 19% from the 269 firearm deaths that occurred in 2006. Sixty-three percent of these were homicides, 37% suicides and <1% were unintentional. Since 2000, firearms have been responsible for 1,995 deaths to county residents.
Drowning is the leading cause of all death to residents aged 1-4 years old and was responsible for 9 deaths in 2007. The most common site for a child drowning death was a residential swimming pool (7 of 9 deaths).
Suffocation is the leading cause of injury-related death to infants aged less than 1 year. Thirteen county infants died from suffocation in 2007, 12 occurred while they slept in a bed or crib.
Thirty-two pedestrian deaths occurred to residents aged 65 years and older. Since 2000, there has been an average of 31 pedestrian deaths every year to the county’s population over 65 years of age.
Injury Hospitalizations
Injuries were responsible for 14,061 nonfatal hospitalizations to residents in 2007.
Falls were responsible for 46% of all nonfatal injury hospitalizations followed by motor vehicle traffic crashes (17%) and poisonings (11%).
1,817 county residents aged 65 and older were hospitalized for hip fractures (1/3 of all injury hospitalizations for this age group); 94% were due to falls.
Nonfatal hospitalized injuries were responsible for nearly 700 million dollars in direct hospital charges in 2007.
Injury ED Visits
Injuries were responsible for 142,497 nonfatal emergency department (ED) visits to county residents in 2006 (most recent data available).
Falls (27%) were the leading cause of nonfatal injury ED visits followed by being struck by or against an object/person (15%) and motor vehicle traffic crashes (12%).
Nonfatal ED visit injuries were responsible for nearly 300 million dollars in direct hospital charges in 2007.
