Skip to main content

Economic Burden of Youth Violence Reached $122 Billion in 2020

Medically reviewed by Drugs.com.

By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Sept. 18, 2023 -- The economic burden of youth violence reached $122 billion in 2020 and was dominated by homicides, according to a research letter published online Sept. 18 in JAMA Pediatrics.

Cora Peterson, Ph.D., from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and colleagues reported the annual economic burden of youth violence injuries using national data. The number of homicides and nonfatal assault injury emergency department visits among youths aged 10 to 24 years and the economic cost of medical care spending, lost work productivity, reduced quality of life from injury morbidity, and avoidable mortality during 2015 to 2020 was examined using the publicly available Web-Based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System Cost of Injury website.

The researchers found that during 2015 to 2019, the annual economic burden of youth violence injuries was $105 to $115 billion and reached $122 billion in 2020. There was a decreasing number of nonfatal assault injury emergency department visits and associated nonfatal economic burden during 2015 to 2019, but due to a persistently high number of homicides, the total annual economic burden remained similar. The total annual economic burden of youth violence was 17 percent higher in 2020 than in 2019 due to a 36 percent increase in youth homicides, despite the lowest annual number of nonfatal assault injury emergency department visits.

"Highlighting the economic burden of youth violence is essential to inform decision-making about the value of targeted prevention strategies," the authors write.

Abstract/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Posted September 2023

Read this next

Implantable Continuous Flow Device Feasible for Small Children With Severe Systolic Heart Failure

FRIDAY, May 10, 2024 -- The Jarvik 2015 left ventricular assist device (LVAD) seems promising as an implantable continuous flow device for small children with severe systolic...

Clinical Practice Guideline Developed for Age-Related Hearing Loss

FRIDAY, May 10, 2024 -- In a clinical practice guideline issued by the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation and published online April 30 in...

Large Language Models Fall Short in Breast Imaging Classification

FRIDAY, May 10, 2024 -- Large language models (LLMs) appear to fall short in classification of breast imaging, which can have a negative impact on clinical management, according...

More news resources

Subscribe to our newsletter

Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.