English

Abstract

BACKGROUND Road traffic accidents (RTA) account for most of the injury patients encountered in the department of emergency resulting in significant death and morbidity. The current research was conducted to analyse the demographic, clinical and radiological profile of patients presenting with RTA to a tertiary care teaching hospital (Velammal Medical College Hospital and Research Institute). METHODS This cross-sectional observational study was done among 68 subjects presenting with RTA to the department of emergency medicine. Detailed history taking, clinical & radiological investigations including plain radiographs, ultrasound and computed tomography (CT) were done. Site of injury was considered as primary outcome of the study. The data was analysed statistically by deriving mean and standard deviation. International Business Machines Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (IBM SPSS) version 22 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS Among the study population, the mean age was 36.18 ± 13.73 years. 83.82 % were males. Individuals aged less than 40 years of age were greatly involved in RTA. Majority (77.9 %) had abdominal injuries followed by 36.7 % with craniofacial trauma, 25 % had thoracic trauma, 17.6 % had spinal trauma, and 10.2 % had extremity and pelvic bone injuries. In abdominal trauma, spleen (26.4 %) was the commonly affected organ. Liver (25 %) and renal injuries (16.17 %) were next commonly observed. A significant difference (P-value < 0.05) was found in abdominal injuries due to different types of vehicles. CONCLUSIONS RTIs are common in the younger population. The predominance of the male population was seen. The most common organ to be injured was spleen. Proper understanding of the pattern of trauma may help in improving the outcome. Early diagnosis, aggressive resuscitation and timely surgical intervention were essential in improving the outcome in trauma patients. KEYWORDS Road Traffic Accidents, Road Traffic Injuries, Head Injury, Blunt Abdominal Trauma, CT Scan