Injury severity and injury patterns in older participants in road traffic

Abstract

Older people are or remain increasingly mobile for longer and participate in road traffic as car drivers or passengers, cyclists, and pedestrians. Regardless of their role in causing accidents, they are more likely to be seriously injured due to their higher vulnerability. If they are involved in an accident they suffer increasingly more from severe injuries, which consequently leads to longer hospitalization times. These aspects are even more applicable for persons aged75 years or more than for persons aged 65-74 years. From aGerman in-depth accident study (GIDAS) analysis of the individual injuries of different types of road users, the most frequently severely injured body regions as well as the leading injuries can be derived. Primarily head and thorax injuries are of importance and secondarily also injuries to the lower extremities (especially for cyclists and pedestrians). The majority of the presented results confirm findings from comparable studies; however, this study was conducted for the first time on the basis of the abbreviated injury scale (AIS) 2015 and some individual injuries (especially commotio cerebri, which dominates in almost all age and road user groups) were upgraded from AIS1 to AIS2 in the latest AIS revision. As aresult, the current results partly show significant increases in injury severity, especially for the head, compared to earlier studies based on the AIS 2008.