Unintentional Injury Mortality among Alaska Native People
INTRODUCTION: Injury has been the leading cause of death among Alaska Native people (AN). AN life expectancy, a major population health status indicator, is 7.2 years lower than US Whites (2004-2008), most of which can be attributed to injury mortality. Many injury deaths are preventable. Findings from analyses of AN injury mortality (2004-2008 and 2002-2011) will be presented with a focus on the impact of unintentional injuries.
METHODS: Data were obtained from the Alaska Bureau of Vital Statistics and the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Age-adjusted rates standardized to the 2000 US standard population and trends were calculated.
RESULTS: Injury remains the leading cause of death among AN people. Intentional and unintentional (UI) injury deaths were the top causes of death for persons less than 45 years of age. UI deaths accounted for 25% of years of life lost before age 75 (2004-2008). UI deaths represented 60.3% of all injury deaths (1,718). Poisoning (26.6%), motor and off-road vehicle (24.7%) related injuries, and drowning (16.3%) comprised 67.6% of all UI deaths (1,037). UI death rates have declined 47% between 1980-1983 and 2004-2008, and 13.2% between 1992-1995 and 2008-2011. A disparity in UI death rates of 2.1 times persists for AN people compared to Alaska non-Natives (105.1 and 49.5 per 100,000, p<0.05).
CONCLUSION: Injury is a leading cause of AN mortality. Unintentional mortality rates have decreased for Alaska Native people over the past three decades however the rate of decrease has slowed and a disparity still exists. Despite increased levels of exposure to injury risk, further improvements in prevention of unintentional injuries are needed. With these improvements, the gap in life expectancies for AN people can be significantly decreased.