Costs by Cause of Injury

-Costs by cost type
-Costs by cause of injury and injury outcome
-Per capita costs of injury by cause and cost type

BC Priorities: Falls, Transport Incidents, and Suicide/Self-harm

Costs differ by cause of injury, the event that resulted in the injury, such as falls, transport incidents, and unintentional poisonings.

Costs by Cause of Injury

The total costs of injury by leading causes in 2018 were:

$1,738 million (41%) for falls
$703 million (16.3%) for unintentional poisoning
$492 million (11.4%) for transport incidents
$371 million (8.6%) for suicide/self-harm

Costs by cost type

The direct costs of injury by leading causes were:

$1,424 million (53%) for falls
$312 million (12%) for transport incidents
$81 million (3%) for suicide/self-harm

The indirect costs of injury by leading causes were:

$641 million (40%) for unintentional poisoning
$314 million (20%) for falls
$291 million (18%) for suicide/self-harm

The figure below depicts the costs in millions for cause of injury, by cost type, across BC and the Health Authorities.

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Costs by cause of injury and injury outcome

The costs of injury death by leading causes in 2018 were:

$652 million (53%) for unintentional poisoning
$291 million (23%) for suicide/self-harm

Falls accounted for the highest cost across all other injury outcomes:

$507 million (62%) for hospitalizations
$387 million (33%) for ED visits
$784 million (74%) for disability

The table below depicts costs in millions for cause of injury, by injury outcome, across BC and the Health Authorities.

The costs per injury death by leading causes were:

$610, 214 per case for unintentional poisoning
$553,326 per case for suicide/self-harm
$504,142 per case for transport incidents

The costs per injury hospitalization by leading causes were:

$38,017 per case for fire/burn
$26,814 per case for falls
$26,241 per case for drowning
$26,026 per case for transport incidents

The costs per injury ED visit by leading causes were:

$2,525 per case for drowning
$2,367 per case for transport incidents
$2,296 per case for suicide/self-harm

The costs per injury disability by leading causes were:

$260,478 per case for struck by/against sports equipment
$181,734 per case for drowning
$157,957 per case for fire/burns
$142,886 per case for falls

The table below depicts cost per case for cause of injury, by injury outcome, across BC and the Health Authorities.

Per capita costs of injury by cause and cost type

The per capita costs of injury by cost type in 2018 were:

$858 per capita in total costs
$540 per capita in direct costs to the health care system
$318 per capita in indirect costs

The total costs per capita of injury by leading cause were:

$348 per capita for falls
$141 per capita for unintentional poisoning
$98 per capita for transport incidents

The direct cost per capita of injury by leading cause was:

$285 per capita for falls

The indirect cost per capita of injury by leading cause was:

$128 per capita for unintentional poisoning

The table below depicts the cost per capita for cause of injury, by cost type, across BC and the Health Authorities.