Reducing the Risk of Injury and Disease

Public interest in disease and injury prevention is very high, driven by a steady accumulation of high-quality evidence that preventive interventions do reduce cause-specific death rates. The purpose of these interventions is to eliminate the root causes of diseases that precede death (e.g., heart disease, cancer, and stroke). This chapter presents a review of health risks posed by substance abuse (tobacco, alcohol, and drugs), accidents (e.g., from motor vehicles, accidental poisoning, falling, fire, drowning, and firearms), and domestic violence. The physician’s role in prevention is to identify risk factors for disease and injury and counsel patients about modifying potentially harmful behaviors. Figures illustrate the life expectancy of men and women, and years of potential life lost from various causes, in the United States. Tables list recommendations of the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), years of smoking abstinence needed to reduce the risk of disease, elements of a successful smoking cessation strategy, stages of readiness for smoking cessation, the test performance of screening questionnaires for alcohol abuse, the CAGE questionnaire, unintentional