Quality of Life and Road Traffic Injury: A Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

Road injury is classified as an unintentional injury resulting from road crashes with one or more vehicles or persons, and this injury may result in fatality. Among unintentional injuries, Road Traffic Injury (RTI) is the most common cause of death worldwide (Onainor, 2019). Approximately 1.3 million people are involved in road crashes, resulting in 20 to 50 million suffering from non-fatal injuries worldwide (World Health Organization, 2021). Pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, and pillions are considered at-risk groups that were contributing to half of the road traffic fatalities and injuries. About 93% of these road fatalities are from low and middle-income countries, negatively impacting their countries' economic well-being. Apart from that, the condition impacts the national economic growth and the household financial burden due to the loss of productivity caused by premature death aged 5 – 29 (World Health Organization, 2021). While there are costing analyses and mathematical injury models that might project the burden of RTIs, there is another way to understand the burden: measuring the quality of life of those affected. QOL is one of the prominent tools used in RTI, which provides evidence-based patient-reported outcomes regarding individuals' well-being. QOL is also used in guiding informed decision making for future healthcare planning. The QOL measurement also is relevant when the measurement of morbidity and mortality cannot be assessed accurately (Rissanen, Berg, & Hasselberg, 2017). While the health provider and policymaker are affected economically due to road crashes, the patients involved too are greatly affected by the crash aftermath. Keywords: Quality of life, Road Traffic Injury, Bibliometric Analysis, VOSviewer, Harzing's Publish or Perish