The Three Leading Causes of Injury Mortality in the United States, 1999-2005
"In 2005, poisoning continued to be the second leading cause of injury death in the United States, having surpassed firearms for the first time in 2004. In 2004, poisoning deaths exceeded those related to firearms by 2%; however, the difference increased to 7% in 2005, with 32,691 poisoning deaths compared with 30,694 firearm deaths. Motor vehicle traffic (MVT) deaths were the leading cause of injury death from 1999-2005, accounting for 43,667 deaths in 2005. From 2004 to 2005, MVT deaths increased 1%, firearm deaths, 4% and poisoning deaths, 8%. (1,2)

The age distribution of poisoning deaths differs from that for MVT and firearm deaths. The 2005 poisoning death rate peaked at ages 45-54 years, whereas the MVT and firearm death rates peaked at ages 20-24 years, with a secondary peak for MVT deaths at 85 years and over, see Figure 1. Before 2005, the highest poisoning death rate had been at ages 35-44 years, but it has shifted to ages 45-54 years."