Epidemiological Correlates and Pattern of Injuries in Road Traffic Accident Victims Attending a Tertiary Care Hospital in Northern India
Keywords:
Road traffic injury; factors; pattern, tertiary care hospital, Northern IndiaAbstract
Background: Road Traffic Accidents (RTAs) are major public health concerns exerting a huge burden on the health system. According to WHO, 1.2 million people lose their lives every year owing to RTAs.Objective: To find out the pattern of injuries among patients of RTAs presenting to a tertiary care hospital of Uttarakhand and to find the association between RTAs and various factors.Method: All the eligible patients or their care takers attending the emergency department were interviewed after taking informed consent over a period of one year. Results: Overall 717 respondents were interviewed. The mean age of the victims was 34.0 years ±15.093. Significantly more accidents took place between 6:00 PM and midnight (41.6%) and on the highways (69.2%). Two wheelers were responsible for majority (60.1%) of the accidents. Head injuries (25.6%) were most common, closely followed by lower limb injuries/ fractures (23.8%). Head injuries were significantly more in 2-wheeler riders, who did not wear helmets.Conclusion: RTA is preventable non-communicable disease which is on rise due to ignorance and non-compliance of traffic rules as well as bad conditions of roads. Stringent road and traffic policies are required which are to be followed with strict compliance. [A Juyal, Natl J Integr Res Med, 2018; 9(3):9-13]
References
2. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/ fs358/en/ accessed on 26.02.2018
3. www.nhp.gov.in/road-traffic-accidents_pg accessed on 26.02.2018
4. Hasselberg M, Laflamme L. Road traffic injuries among young car drivers by country of origin and socioeconomic position. Int J Publ Health. 2008;53(1):40–45.
5. Moudon AV, Lin L, Jiao J, Hurvitz P, Reeves P. The risk of pedestrian injury and fatality in collisions with motor vehicles, a social ecological study of state routes and city streets in King County, Washington. Accid Anal Prev. 2010;43(1):11–24.
6. Van Beeck EF, Mackenbach JP, Looman CW, Kunst AE. Determinants of traffic accident mortality in The Netherlands: a geographical analysis. Int J Epidemiol. 1991;20(3):698–706. doi: 10.1093/ije/20.3.698.
7. Schmucker U, Seifert J, Stengel D, Matthes G, Ottersbach C, Ekkernkamp A. Road traffic crashes in developing countries. Unfallchirurg. 2010;113 (5):373-7.
8. Khare Neeraj, Gupta Sanjay K, Varshney Atul, Athavale AV. Epidemiological Study of Road Traffic Accident Cases attending Tertiary Care Hospital in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. NJCM. 2012; 3 (3): 395-9.
9. Nilamber J, Goutam R, Jagdish S. Epidemiological study of Road traffic cases: A study from south India. IJCM 2004 Jan –mar; 21 (1): 20-4.
10. Singh D, Kumaran M, Singh SP, Goel S. Profile of Road Traffic Fatalities in Adults-A 40 Year Study in Chandigarh Zone of North West India. J Indian Acad Forensic Med. 2014; 36(1): 47-51.
11. Uthkarsh, P. S.et al (2012). Profile of injury cases admitted to a tertiary level hospital in south India. International journal of injury control and safety promotion, 19(1), 47-51.
12. Patil, S. S., Kakade, R. V., Durgawale, P. M., &Kakade, S. V. (2008). Pattern of road traffic injuries: A study from western Maharashtra. Indian journal of community medicine 2008; 33(1): 56.
13. Dixit S, Tyagi PK, Singh AK, Gupta SK, Malik N. Clinico– epidemiological profile of road traffic incidents admitted at a tertiary care hospital in Garhwal Uttarakhand. JEMDS. 2012;1(3):83-90.
14. Sharma SM, Juyal R, Vyas S, Semwal J. Prevalence and risk factors of non fatal road Traffic accidents in a community setting of District dehradun. NJMR 2016;6 (1): 42-4.
15. Debbarma S, Nigam S, Martolia DS, Varma P, Barman SK, Midha T. Correlates of road traffic accident in cases attending IIR hospital Kanpur. Indian J Comm Health. 2016; 28, 1: 65 - 70.
16. Shah A, Jarwani B. Study of patients of road traffic accidents arriving in emergency department [ED] of V.S hospital at Ahmedabad city, single centre pilot study. 2018;8–9.
17. Singh, D., Dewan, I., Pandey, A. N., & Tyagi, S. (2003). Spectrum of unnatural fatalities in the Chandigarh zone of north-west India–a 25 year autopsy study from a tertiary care hospital. Journal of clinical forensic medicine, 10(3), 145-152.
18. Banthia P, Koirala B, Rauniyar A, Chaudhary D, Kharel T, Khadka SB. An epidemiological study of road traffic accident cases attending emergency department of teaching hospital. J Nepal Med Assoc. 2006 Apr-Jun;45(162):238-43
19. Yadav SS, Singhal V, Lakhtakia PK, Rajpoot M. Study of road traffic accident cases reported in a tertiary care hospital in vindhya region of M.P. with the use of WHO/CDC injury surveillance system. J. Evid. Based Med. Healthc. 2016; 3 (8): 235-242.
20. C. Malhotra, M.M. Singh, S. Garg, R. Malhotra, B.K. Dhaon, M. Mehra. Pattern and Severity of injuries in victims of road traffic crashes attending a Tertiary care hospital of Delhi. Anil Aggrawal’s Internet Journal of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, 6 (2005), p. 2
