Injuries: the neglected epidemic: Stone lecture, 1985 America Trauma Society Meeting

Today injuries are the most serious health problem facing this country, whether measured in dollar costs, physician contacts, premature deaths, or lost productive years of life. Available means for preventing many injuries and reducing the resulting disability or death are often ignored, and for many decades there was little emphasis on effective preventive measures. Examples of successful efforts to prevent injury illustrate the effectiveness of measures that provide automatic protection rather than requiring repeated individual action. Traditionally, funding for research on trauma has had an inverse relationship to its importance as a public health problem. Recent progress toward a federal Center for Injury Control reflects the hard work of many members of the trauma community and provides cause for optimism that there will be greater support for training and research in trauma epidemiology, prevention, biomechanics, acute care, and rehabilitation.