Driver, Collision and Meteorological Characteristics of Motor Vehicle Collisions among Road Trauma Survivors.

Melita J Giummarra,Belinda J Gabbe,Rongbin Xu,Peter A Cameron,Jennie Ponsford,Yuming Guo,Shanthi Ameratunga,Joanna F Dipnall

doi:10.3390/ijerph182111380

Abstract

Road trauma remains a significant public health problem. We aimed to identify sub-groups of motor vehicle collisions in Victoria, Australia, and the association between collision characteristics and outcomes up to 24 months post-injury. Data were extracted from the Victorian State Trauma Registry for injured drivers aged ≥16 years, from 2010 to 2016, with a compensation claim who survived ≥12 months post-injury. People with intentional or severe head injury were excluded, resulting in 2735 cases. Latent class analysis was used to identify collision classes for driver fault and blood alcohol concentration (BAC), day and time of collision, weather conditions, single vs. multi-vehicle and regional vs. metropolitan injury location. Five classes were identified: (1) daytime multi-vehicle collisions, no other at fault; (2) daytime single-vehicle predominantly weekday collisions; (3) evening single-vehicle collisions, no other at fault, 36% with BAC ≥ 0.05; (4) sunrise or sunset weekday collisions; and (5) dusk and evening multi-vehicle in metropolitan areas with BAC < 0.05. Mixed linear and logistic regression analyses examined associations between collision class and return to work, health (EQ-5D-3L summary score) and independent function Glasgow Outcome Scale - Extended at 6, 12 and 24 months. After adjusting for demographic, health and injury characteristics, collision class was not associated with outcomes. Rather, risk of poor outcomes was associated with age, sex and socioeconomic disadvantage, education, pre-injury health and injury severity. People at risk of poor recovery may be identified from factors available during the hospital admission and may benefit from clinical assessment and targeted referrals and treatments.

Highlights

This article is an open access articleIn 2000, the state of Victoria, Australia, implemented the Regionalised VictorianState Trauma System, which led to significant improvements in survival after serious injury [1]
A higher proportion of cases who were lost to follow-up were younger, did not speak English as their preferred language, lived in neighbourhoods with greater disadvantage, had not completed secondary school, had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) ≥ 0.05 during the collision or a pre-injury substance use condition and were injured in collisions where no other was at fault (Table 1)
People in collision class 5 who were predominantly injured in metropolitan collisions in which another was at fault and in conditions with heightened collision risks had 57% lower odds of reporting independent function in the follow-up interviews than people in collision class 1 in the unadjusted analyses (Table S7)

Summary

Introduction

This article is an open access articleIn 2000, the state of Victoria, Australia, implemented the Regionalised VictorianState Trauma System, which led to significant improvements in survival after serious injury [1]. This article is an open access article. In 2000, the state of Victoria, Australia, implemented the Regionalised Victorian. State Trauma System, which led to significant improvements in survival after serious injury [1]. Further advances in trauma triage, healthcare and treatment since have continued to lead to improved functional outcomes for survivors of serious injury [2]. Road trauma remains a significant public health problem in Victoria, as it does distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons.

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