Abstract: Objective To evaluate the economic burden of injury inpatients and to provide scientific data for formula-ting intervention measures on injury.Methods Medical records of injury inpatients from 1994 to 2008 in two hospitals of Lanzhou were collected and analyzed to describe the type of injury and the change trend of economic burden among the inpatients.Results For the 13 227 injury inpatients,the average days of hospitalization was 12.19 with a descent trend with the year(r_s=-0.88,P < 0.05).The average cost of hospitalization and the average daily cost were 4075.58 RMB yuan and 331.39 RMB yuan,both presenting ascent trend with the year(r_s=0.93,P < 0.05; r_s=0.95,P < 0.05).For the period of 1994-2008,the total working years of potential lost were 7 934.60 person years(6576.60 for male and 1358.00 for female) and the average working years of potential lost were 26.90 person years(27.06 for male and 26.12 for female) for the injury inpatients.The average indirect economic loss of the inpatients increased from 63 846.70 RMB yuan during the period of 1994-1996 to 269 587.80 RMB yuan during the period of 2006-2008.Conclusion There is an increasing trend for economic burden among injury inpatients in Gansu province.