Report: Idaho 18th in injury-related deaths

Drug overdoses have become the leading cause of injury-related deaths in 36 states - Idaho is not one of them.

In a report released last week by Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Idaho was ranked the 18th highest in injury-related deaths of the 50 states and Washington, D.C.

The report, titled "The Facts Hurt, A State-by-State Injury Prevention Policy Report," documented injury-related deaths over an approximate three-year period from 2011-2014 and is compared to data collected from a previous report covering 2007-2009, according to Rich Hamburg, deputy director of TFAH.

Hamburg said the leading cause of injury-related deaths in Idaho is motor vehicle accidents. According to the report, the overall number of injury-related deaths in the state is 69.1 per 100,000 people, higher than the national average of 58.4 per 100,000 people.

The number of injury-related deaths in Idaho has remained stable over time, Hamburg said, and even though the leading cause of injury deaths in Idaho is motor vehicle accidents, he said drug overdoses have increased and are a very real threat.

"In Idaho the drug overdose deaths, which a majority of those are from prescription drugs, did go up statistically, significantly over about a four-year period," Hamburg said. "The numbers have gone up dramatically in all states over the last several years."

Hamburg said over an approximate 30-year period, from 1979-2010, drug overdose mortality went up 462 percent in Idaho, and he said 123 percent of that increase occurred in the first decade of the millennium.

According to the report, there are 10 key prevention indicators which are proven to help reduce injuries and violence. These indicators include whether the state:

* Has primary seat belt laws.

* Requires mandatory ignition interlocks for all convicted drunk drivers, even first-time offenders.

* Requires car seats or booster seats for children as old as at least the age of 8.

* Has Graduated Driver Licensing laws restricting teen driving starting at 10 p.m.

* Requires bicycle helmets for children.

* Has fewer homicides than the national goal of 5.5 per 100,000 people.

* Has a child abuse and neglect victimization rate at or below the national rate of 9.1 per 1,000 children.

* Has fewer deaths from unintentional falls than the national goal of 7.2 per 100,000 people.

* Requires mandatory use of data from the prescription drug monitoring program by at least some providers.

* Has laws in place to expand access to and use of naloxone, an overdose rescue drug, by laypersons.

Idaho scored very low on these prevention indicators, with only four of the policies in place. West Virginia, which had the highest number of injury-related deaths in the U.S. at 97.9 per 100,000 people, actually scored higher on the prevention indicators than Idaho, with seven of the 10 policies in place.

"We don't know how recently these, or at least this report doesn't provide, how recently these policies went into play," Hamburg said.

He said some of the states like West Virginia may have implemented some of the policies more recently than other states, which would account for why they have a higher score on the indicators but still have higher injury death rates.

The indicators are proven effective with states like New York, which according to the report, has the highest score on the prevention indicators, with nine of the 10 policies in place. The state was ranked lowest in the nation for injury deaths at a rate of 40.3 per 100,000 - well below the national average.

Hamburg said while many states have seen a major increase in drug overdoses, the numbers are countered by a decrease in motor vehicle deaths in those states because they have implemented the policies under the prevention indicators.

The first four of the prevention indicators relate to driving safety and Idaho has implemented only one of them.

"If you were to take a quick snapshot - a state that it's the leading cause of death and there are four featured policies and the state has only done one of them - then there is certainly room for improvement."

He said it is interesting that the majority of states have not restricted driving for teens after 10 p.m., so the one of the four that was met by Idaho is one that only 11 other states have implemented.

The other three indicators Idaho has in place are homicide prevention, child abuse and rescue drug laws.

Hamburg said there are three "take-aways" from the TFAH recommendations. First, he said there needs to be more of an investment toward injury prevention. Second, he said there needs to be more research on policies - what works and what doesn't. And finally, he said, there needs to be a multisector approach, where all the states implement policies that work to help prevent injury-related deaths.

"A couple of key points on the report - one is that most injuries are preventable," Hamburg said. "Accidents are preventable, injuries are preventable, or at least you can mitigate the effects of the injuries by instituting better public education policies or programs."