Mission of the Coalition for National Trauma Research

CNTR’s Mission: To enhance trauma research in the U.S. by advocating for sustainable research funding commensurate with the burden of disease; coordinating research efforts across professional organizations that span the continuum of injury care; and strengthening the infrastructure for multicenter investigation.

Our overall vision is to reduce death and disability from trauma, achieving zero preventable deaths as outlined in the 2016 NASEM report on building a national trauma care system.

Traumatic injury is a major public health crisis:

• Each year, trauma accounts for 41 million emergency department visits and 2 million hospital admissions and kills three times the number of Americans killed during the entire Vietnam conflict.
• Trauma is the leading cause of death of children in the U.S.
• Injury is the leading cause of death for people between the ages of 1 and 46.
• Among people 65 years and older, falls are the leading cause of injury deaths and the most common cause of nonfatal injuries and hospital admissions for trauma, adding significantly to Medicare costs.
• The effect of trauma on productive life years lost exceeds that of any other disease.
• The economic cost of trauma amounts to $671 billion every year, including health care and work loss for those suffering both fatal and nonfatal injuries.