A Population-based Study of Injuries in Inner-City Women

Although injuries are the number one cause of death for women under age 45 years in the United States, very little is known about nonfatal injuries to women, particularly those from urban, black communities. The Philadelphia Injury Prevention Program is a surveillance system of fatal and nonfatal injuries in a poor, urban, black community in western Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Nearly 10% of the estimated population of 31,032 women aged 15 years and older suffered an injury resulting in an emergency room visit or death during the 1-year study period from March 1, 1987 through February 29, 1988. The major causes of injury were falls (25.1 per 1,000 women), violence (20.8 per 1,000 women), and motor vehicle incidents (16.8 per 1,000 women). Violence was the leading cause of injury for women aged 15-44 years and the most common cause of injuries among women with two or more injuries during the 1-year period. Injury rates were highest for women aged 25-34 years (157.1 per 1,000 women); nearly 16% of the population in this age group suffered an injury resulting in an emergency room visit or death during the 1-year study period. Rates declined with advancing age for each injury type except for falls; which were most common in young women aged 25-34 years (28.4 per 1,000 women) and in the aged 65 years and older (29.0 per 1,000 women). We conclude that in his population, injuries to young women appear to be a major public health problem. More work is needed to understand the nature of injuries occurring to young women in urban communities.