Injury Prevention

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Injury Surveillance Data

Purpose

To assess violence and injury burden among Rhode Islanders using Hospital Discharge data.

Collection Period

2016-2022

Key Information

The Injury Hospital Discharge Data is a compilation of data related to emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations due to injury. The database includes ED visits and hospitalizations from all acute care hospitals in the state of Rhode Island from 2016 to 2022. ED visits in the database consist of encounters that do not result in admission (i.e., treat-and-release visit), whereas hospitalizations include patient admissions via ED and non-ED. These data are limited to discharges among Rhode Island residents only. Injury indicators were defined using CDC’s injury surveillance definitions. Rates are calculated per 1000 population using population estimates from the 2016-2020 American Communities Survey. Estimates may not have been possible for certain subpopulations or demographic groups due to small sample size.

Rhode Island Numbers

  • From 2016 to 2022, the annual total of Emergency Department (ED) visits have decreased from 86,748 to 62,845, and the age-adjusted rate per 1,000 (83.6 in 2016 versus 59.5 in 2022).
  • Each year from 2016 to 2022, falls have been the most common injury for ED visits, with a rate of 19.6 per 1,000.
  • In 2022, the five most common injuries among ED visits were falls, being struck by an object, motor vehicle/traffic-related, assault, and traumatic brain injury.
  • In 2022, all racial/ethnic groups  had significantly higher age-adjusted rates per 1,000 for injury-related ED visits (70.6 for Black non-Hispanics, 66.4 for Hispanics, 69.7 for other non-Hispanics) compared to Whites (52.8).
  • In 2022, youth who had Medicaid had higher rates of injury-related ED visits per 1,000 (106.9) compared to youth who had private insurance (39.4).
  • In 2022, females had higher fall rates per 1,000 (21.7) than males (17.4); however, males had higher rates of being struck by an object (7.9 versus 5.3), motor vehicle/traffic-related injuries (5.9 versus 5.5) and assault (2.6 versus 1.9).