This study represents an effort to examine injury as a potential cause of disability longitudinally. Injury has long been recognized as a main cause of mortality in America. Researchers have found that certain injuries are likely to result in a disability, though few have made efforts to estimate the impact of injury on disability demography nationally. Dramatic demographic, social and cultural changes in recent years associated with aging, increases in minority populations, along with the risks of poverty in the population may impact the etiology and demography of disability caused by injury. We analyzed data from the National Health Interview Survey for the years 1983 through 1996. The study focused on persons meeting the criteria defined as an individual with injury-originated disability based on self-reported activity limitations and injury-originated chronic conditions. Results indicate that a significant number of injury victims had disabilities and that injury was one of the prominent causes of disability. Six to seven million injured Americans, or 3% of the population, reported a disability each year. The majority of Americans with an injury-originated disability reported that their limitations resulted from chronic conditions lasting beyond injury onset. Injury-originated disability differs by gender, age, race, and economic status.
Learning Objectives: (1)Recognize the relationship between injury and disability. (2)Identify NHIS variables associated with injury-originated disabilities. (3)Identify the subgroup differences of the etiology and demography of disability.
Keywords: Disability, National Health Interview Survey
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Department of Disability and Human Development,
University of Illinois at Chicago
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.