Road Traffic Accidents :Age and Gender distribution and impact of Religious Month and Holidays (Ramadan and Eid) on frequency of RTAs in Karachi Pakistan

Abstract

Background: Road safety is an important public health issue in Pakistan. The aim of this study was to investigate trends in road traffic accidents (RTCs) managed by accident and emergency department in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, their age and gender distribution and impact of religious month, Ramadan and Eid on frequency of Road traffic accidents in Karachi Design: cross-sectional study. Place and duration of study: Accident & emergency department of Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Center, Civil hospital, Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, Aga Khan hospital and Liaqat Hospital Karachi. Pakistan from Jan 2014 to December 2014. Patients and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out by ROAD TRAFFIC INJURY RESEARCH AND PREVENTION CENTRE “RTIR&PC” in the five tertiary care hospitals (Civil Hospital ,Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center, Abbasi Shaheed Hospital and Aga Khan Hospital) of Karachi, Pakistan. All road traffic accident victims presented to the emergency department of the selected hospital, were included in the study. A pretested trauma registry form was completed for all patients. Results: Total numbers of accidents were 24360 and total number of injured were 30274. Minor injury 23825 approximately 78.6%, around 65 per day, serious were 5382 approximately 17%,around 15 per day and fatal were 1067 approximately 3.5%, 3 per day. Male injured were 25263 around 83% and female were 5011 around 17%. According to casualities with respect to age were from 16-20 years male were 5136 around 20% and female were 553 around 11% total of 5689 , from 21-25 years male were 4785 around 19% and female were 674 around 13% total of 5459 , from 26-30 years male were 3546 around 14% and female were 613 around 12% total of 4159 and under 15 years male were 3165 around 13% and female were 840 around 19% total of 4105 , other age and gender distribution given in table 1. On month wise casualities, highest casualities recorded in month of June and July of 2014. Ramadan was from June to July in 2014 and Eid was in July in 2014. In June 2014 injured were 3080 around 11% and fatal were 72 around 7% and in July 2014 injured were 3506 around 12% and fatal were 112 around 10 %. Record of other months casualities given in table 2. Injuries related to body part were , head and neck 23% ,fatal were 53%, face 17% ,fatal were 16%, chest 1% fatal 1%, abdomen, pelvic contents 1% fatal 1%, extremity, pelvic girdle 29% fatal 17% external injuries 28% fatal 12%. Conclusion: The study has described trends of RTAs managed by emergency department of hospitals in karachi. Hospital of Karachi experienced a higher burden of RTAs emergencies in the month of Ramadan 2014 as compared with the preceding months of the year. This increase was mostly concentrated among younger ages range from 16-25 years of age. Injuries in city of Karachi are an important public health problem and contribute to major bulk of Emergency facilities. These accidents and the resultant injuries have considerable physical and socioeconomic impacts; therefore, this issue needs to be addressed. By putting into effect laws that enforce road safety measures and helmet usage can prevent these injuries. Keywords: RTAs (Road traffic accident).