Safer in Cities?

In an article in The Atlantic, “You're More Likely to Die a Violent Death in Rural America Than in a City,” author Emily Badger explains why the title may be true based on the recently published study, “Safety in Numbers: Are Major Cities the Safest Places in the United States?” published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine.

The study looked at every injury death in America between 1999 and 2006, excluding death by terrorism from the National Center for Health Statistics. That number totaled 1,295,919 deaths which were tagged with the county where the injury took place, with counties classified on a 10-step continuum from urban to rural. The main findings of the study says is urban areas are significantly safer than rural areas, when looking at all means of death due to injury with the top three causes of death being motor vehicle crashes, firearm use or accident, and poisoning.

Maps from "Safety in Numbers: Are Major Cities the Safest Places in the United States?" by S. Myers et al. in Annals of Emergency Medicine

Hospital Errors Kill 98,000 Americans a Year

Marty Makary, writing for the Wall Street Journal, highlighted the disturbing trend of errors in the medical field and the deadly consequences these errors lead to.  Based on data from the Institute of Medicine, hospital errors kill 98,000 patients a year, and 1 in 4 hospitalized patients are harmed in some fashion by hospital errors.  If hospital errors were a disease, they would be the sixth leading cause of death in America – ahead of Alzheimers.  Surgeons have even been known to operate on the wrong body part as frequently as 40 times per week. The issue of hospital errors is often overlooked due to the fact that hospital performance statistics are difficult to attain, and for the simple fact that the public is more than willing to trust a medical institution. 

Why the dangerously high number of errors?  Makary's analysis points to a lack of teamwork.  Many employees across America’s hospitals report poor levels of teamwork, an aspect of hospital dynamics that makes it difficult to recognize and prevent mistakes.  Makary suggests installing cameras, providing patients with online access to medical histories and charts, and simply opening a dialogue on the deadly consequences of medical errors as solutions to the problem.

Traffic Fatalities Surge Upwards

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that 7,630 people died in motor vehicle accidents during the first quarter of 2012.  This figure represents a 13.5% increase from the 6,720 traffic fatalities during the first quarter of 2011.  The NHTSA notes that the number of traffic fatalities is typically lowest during the first quarter of each year due to inclement winter weather, though this year’s winter was unusually warm – a possible explanation for the jump in fatalities.  The 7,630 fatalities is quite low compared to the first three months of previous years, however.  Just six years ago in the first quarter of 2006, 9,558 Americans lost their lives in traffic accidents, but since then, fatalities fell considerably.  The NHTSA attributes that consistent decline to drops in crashes involving young drivers.

Fighting AIDS Worldwide

On July 19^th, The Economist highlighted a report from UNAIDS, a United Nations Agency with the goal of fighting AIDS.  AIDS-related deaths surged upwards from 1990 to its peak in 2005 of 2.3 million per year, but since then, the number of those who have lost their lives to the virus have dropped off.  The decrease in deaths can be partially attributed to the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PREFAR), which President Bush initiated in 2003 and President Obama renewed in 2008.  Since then, the number of people receiving antiretroviral medication has dramatically increased; the figure stands at over 8 million in poorer regions of the world.  Today, while AIDS remains a serious crisis, the number of AIDS-related deaths has fallen to 1.7 million, a level unseen since 2000.