Resumen de Evaluation of Interventions Designed to Prevent and Control Injuries
Lynda Doll, Tom Bartenfeld, Sue Binder
Violent and unintentional injuries place a severe physical, emotional, and financial burden on US communities. Injuries affect people of all ages, from infants through older adults, and are the leading cause of death in the first four decades of life (1). In 1995, the economic cost of injuries was estimated to be over $260 billion, including the costs of health care and lost productivity (2).
Despite the large burden on US communities, injury prevention is still a relatively new area of public health. In 1992, Congress mandated the establishment of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control to coordinate research and programmatic responses to the problem of injuries in this country (3). In partnership with other federal, state, and local organizations and universities, the Center has encouraged the use of a population-based or public health approach to injury research and programs. This approach complements engineering, mental health, and criminal justice approaches to injury prevention and control.
Evaluation of interventions is an important aspect of injury prevention. Results of evaluations have the power to change injury prevention practice. For example, bicycle helmet use increased following demonstration of the impact of helmets on brain injury (4–6). The number of programs promoting installation of smoke detectors and provision of fire injury prevention education grew once these programs were shown to be highly effective and to save money (7, 8). The number of states with laws prohibiting blood alcohol concentrations of 0.08 percent or higher increased after such laws were shown to decrease fatal motor vehicle injuries (9–11).
