Cost of Road Traffic Injuries in Iran: A mini-systematic review

Abstract

Purpose: Due to the high economic burden of Road Traffic Injuries (RTIs) in Iran and the ambiguities in this field, the aim of this study was to mini systematic review about the economic burden of RTIs in Iran. Material and Methods: Required data in this mini systematic review study were collected through searching the following key words: “road traffic injuries”, “road traffic accidents”, “road traffic crashes”, “road traffic collision”,” economic*”, cost and Iran. The following databases were used: Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, MagIran, Iranian scientific information (SID) databases and IranMedex. Some of the relevant journals and web site searched manually. Reference lists check of the selected articles also was conducted. In final stage of literature review we also conducted search of gray literature and experts contact. Results: The results of the 11 studies examined show that the Human Capital (HC) approach is used more than other cases among different approaches to calculating the cost of RTIs. Using the willingness to pay (WTP) approach, the total cost of RTIsin Iran in 2013 was reported to be 6.64% of the GNP. Using the HC approach, the share of RTIs costs in the whole of Iran has been reported to be 1.4% and 2.1% of GNP, respectively. Health care costs of RTIs have been more explored, compared to other types of RTIs costs. The costs of vehicles were higher than other types of expenses. Conclusion: Economic burden of RTIs in Iran are high. Hence, more planning and attention to preventing RTIs, and increasing the safety of roads and vehicles are essential.