Public health focus: impact of safety-belt use on motor-vehicle injuries and costs--Iowa, 1987-1988.
Each year in the United States, motor-vehicle-related trauma results in approximately 40,000 deaths, 5.4 million nonfatal injuries, and $15.4 billion in direct medical costs and costs of emergency services. The use of safety belts reduces the number and severity of injuries from motor-vehicle crashes, and since states began enacting safety-belt laws, the prevalence of safety-belt use in the United States has increased substantially. In Iowa, where a safety-belt use law was enacted in 1986, the observed rate of safety-belt use increased from 18% in 1985 to 55% in 1988. Data from the Iowa Safety Restraint Assessment were used to estimate the effect of this increase on injury severity and hospital costs and to estimate the statewide savings in direct costs (i.e., hospital and professional fees) and indirect costs (i.e., administrative costs and loss of productivity) for 1 year. This report summarizes the findings of this study.
D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006801:Humans; D007484:Iowa / Q000453:epidemiology; D012622:Seat Belts / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology*