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Deaths from ‘injury and poisoning’ are fourth in age-standardized rates

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Deaths from ‘injury and poisoning’ are fourth in age-standardized rates for males and females in most Western countries, according to studies, coming after circulatory, neoplastic, and respiratory diseases.

For young people in many nations, traffic-related incidents are the most likely cause of death. Though the numbers have been decreasing over the decades, percentage-wise, it is still something many physicians and other health specialists have to deal with regularly. Many of the instantaneous deaths from these accidents were due to chest and multiple injuries, but those that managed to reach the hospital and died subsequently mostly died due to injuries to the head.

Head injuries are always a high proportion of fatal injuries, doctors in The Bronx have learned. These injuries are often motor-vehicle related and among these, in many places, head injuriesare the leading cause of death.

Death certificate data, however, cannot always be reliable when collecting this sort of data, according to studies. These do not specify the entire injury inventory, and may bias any study of head trauma, or any other medical condition. Many death certificates don’t even record a specific injury. Researchers in Long Island often have to turn to autopsy reports to gain the full story. When they do so, they find that many of those who died, did so according to head injuries. There was a time when motorcyclists were particularly prone to this sort of injury. In some places, as many as 68% of some motorcyclists who were killed in accidents had a significant head injury.

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