Abstract
AimTo study the mechanism of road traffic collisions (RTC), use of safety devices, and outcome of hospitalized pediatric and youth RTC injured patients so as to give recommendations regarding prevention of pediatric RTC injuries.MethodsAll RTC injured children and youth (0–19-year-olds) who were admitted to Al Ain City’s two major trauma centers or who died after arrival to these centers were prospectively studied from April 2006 to October 2007. Demography of patients, road-user and vehicle types, crash mechanism, usage of safety devices, injured body regions, injury severity, Revised Trauma Score, Glasgow Coma Scale, intensive care unit admissions, hospital stay and mortality were analyzed.Results245 patients were studied, 69% were vehicle occupants, 15% pedestrians, 9% motorcyclists and 5% bicyclists. 79% were males and 67% UAE citizens. The most common mechanism of RTC was rollover of vehicle (37%) followed by front impact collision (32%). 32 (13%) of vehicle occupants were ejected from car. 63% of ejected occupants and 70% of motorcyclists sustained head injuries. Only 2% (3/170) vehicle passengers used seatbelts and 13% (3/23) motorcyclists a helmet.ConclusionsMale drivers and UAE nationals were at high risk of RTC as drivers and as motorcyclists. Ejection rate was high because safety restraint use was extremely low in our community. More education and law enforcement focusing especially on car/booster seat use is needed.
Highlights
United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a rapidly developing country in economic transition with an increasing population and a growing number of cars and vulnerable road users
We have previously reported the high frequency of trafficrelated head injury among UAE children and youth and suggested that the use of safety restraints was low these specific data were not available in that study [8]
Severity of injury of the affected body region was assessed by the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS), which divides the body into six anatomical regions and assigns each a severity including minor = 1, moderate = 2, serious = 3, severe = 4, critical = 5, unsurvivable = 6, and by the Injury Severity Score (ISS) [13,14]
Summary
United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a rapidly developing country in economic transition with an increasing population and a growing number of cars and vulnerable road users. Traffic-related collision is a major cause of death among children and youth in the UAE, causing on average 103.7 deaths per year (2000–2008) with incidence mortality 13.6 per 100.000 population [2]. These injuries impose a great burden on the affected persons, families and health care facilities. Risk factors of road traffic collisions are well-described, they can vary in different settings. Incidence and prevention of road traffic injuries, including creating safe road environments and using safety restraints, have been extensively studied [5]. Despite legislation and increasing law enforcement, there is still low use of safety restraints in our community [2,6,7]
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