National inpatient trauma costs in the US doubled from 2012 to 2021, with falls among older adults being a primary contributor, according to a study published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The retrospective cohort study analyzed 18,353,296 hospitalizations found in data from the 2012-2021 National Inpatient Sample; data were analyzed Sept. 2 to Oct. 28, 2024. Annual inpatient trauma care costs increased from $27 billion in 2012 to $42 billion in 2021, according to the study. In 2021, patients aged 75 or more years (34.8%) accounted for the greatest estimated costs ($14.6 billion), whereas patients younger than 18 years (3.1%) had the lowest ($4.9 billion) costs. Among all payers, Medicare beneficiaries accrued the highest costs, at $22.1 billion, followed by privately insured patients at $8.9 billion and those with Medicaid at $7.2 billion.