Rising mortality from injury in urban China: demographic burden, underlying causes and policy implications

Jiaying Zhao, Edward Jow-Ching Tu, Christine McMurray, Adrian Sleigh

In urban China, mortality from injuries has increased over the past five decades. By contrast, life expectancy has continued to increase and has come to nearly equal life expectancy in developed countries. Currently, most of the life expectancy lost due to injury (65%) in urban China would be recovered if injury rates were the same as in countries with low injury-related mortality. Fundamentally, the rising trend in urban injury mortality in China reflects a continued focus on injury treatment rather than prevention in the face of fast socioeconomic development and increasing exposure to risk factors for injury. Despite improved injury prevention legislation and a "Safe Community" campaign, urban China needs to modify its approach to urban injury management and focus on prevention. The gap between urban China and countries with low injury mortality can be closed by means of legislation, strengthened law enforcement and the establishment of safer communities. Risks affecting children and migrants deserve greater attention, and the government needs to allocate more resources to injury prevention, especially to urban areas in the central-west region of China. Based on the population size of urban China, measures for the prevention of injury mortality would save an annual 436.4 million years of life.