Systematic reviews of strategies to prevent motor vehicle injuries

Abstract

Background: Information on which strategies have been shown to be effective, which are ineffective, and which strategies have been inadequately evaluated is important for both public policy and future research. Objective: To provide systematic reviews of the literature on important strategies to prevent motor vehicle injuries. Methods: The Injury Control Research Centers (ICRCs) funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified 9 important motor vehicle injury prevention strategies. A systematic review of the literature in 9 different computerized databases was conducted to identify relevant controlled trials. These were critically reviewed and summarized. Results: A total of 54,078 citations were reviewed; 1,111 met initial screening criteria. The reports for these citations were obtained and critically reviewed by the ICRCs. Standard criteria for inclusion of articles in the review and for evaluating the methodological quality of the articles were applied. Few randomized controlled trials were found; most controlled studies were either comparisons over time and/or across different populations. Nevertheless, these studies were able to be summarized to provide meaningful conclusions about the effectiveness of various interventions to decrease morbidity and mortality from motor vehicle crashes. Conclusions: A large body of literature on motor vehicle injury interventions exists. The summary of this literature will provide useful information to direct policy and future research efforts.