Abstract: ObjectiveTo examine the direct economic burden of inpatients with violent injuy and to provide theoretical basis for reducing the burden.MethodsCluster sampling method was adopted to collect medical record data of violent injury inpatients from 1994 to 2008 in two general hospitals at Lanzhou city.The hospitalization expenses of the inpatients were analyzed.ResultsThe geometric mean of hospitalization cost per patient(GHCs/P) and the geometric mean of hospitalizatiion cost per day(GHCs/D) were 2 849.57 and 270.87 RMB Yuan and showed a increasing trend(P=0.000) with the estimated annual percentage change(EAPC) of 9.88% and 13.47%,respectively.The average hospitaliation time was 12.5 days and decreased yearly(r_s=0.868,P=0.000) with an EAPC of -3.27%.The cost for medical service,medicine,medical examination,treatment,and operation accounted for 3.87%,45.83%,13.34%,19.58%,and 16.56% of the average total hospotalization expense for one inpatient,respectively,with the EAPC of 19.36%,8.54%,12.52%,2.94%,and 27.25%.There were positive correlations among the cost of medical service,medicine,examination,treatment,and operation.ConclusionThe direct economic burden for inpatients with violent injury increased yearly because of the rapid increases of medicine and operation expenses.