Road traffic accidents with head injury: delay in treatment and socioeconomic and legal impact

Abstract

Background: Road traffic accidents (RTAs) with the head injury warrants early treatment. The delay in receiving the specialized care adversely affects the outcome. Economic losses due to RTA with the Head Injury amount of Rs 550 crores (12.5 billion dollars), an amount that equals our defense budget. Insurance of vehicles and victims and compensation claims are related legal issues. The Objectives of the study were: 1. To analyze the delay in reaching the hospital following the Road Traffic Accident with Head Injury. 2. To study the pattern of pre-hospital treatment received. 3. To measure the socioeconomic and legal impact of Road Traffic Accident cases with Head Injury.Methods: A hospital based cross-sectional study was conducted in casualty and allied departments of Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, Aligarh. All cases of RTA with Head Injury admitted from August 2010 to July 2011 who were 15-45 years of age were included in the study using purposive sampling. Data was analyzed with SPSS 20.Results: A total of 463 patients were included in the study. Almost two-third of patients i.e. 315 (68.0%) were brought to hospital within 6 hours and the remaining 148 (32.0%) reached hospital after lapse of 6 or more hours. Of all patients who reached hospital before 6 hours, only 70 males and 10 females received some form of pre-hospital treatment. The mean expenditure during hospital stay was Rs.3663.71. About 51.6% of patients had to stay for 1-3 days in hospital following a head injury. As many as three-fourth of vehicles involved in accident were insured while just 14.3% of patients were insured. Only 5 (1.1%) out of the 463 patients applied for compensation till the time of interview.Conclusions: Reaching hospital early has direct bearing on final outcome of accidents. RTAs with Head Injury lead to variable out-of-pocket expenditure for patients and their attendants. Majority of victims do not have insurance, though insurance of vehicles is a common practice.