Abstract
BackgroundTraffic-related injuries are the most common cause of morbidity and mortality of the youth. Our aim was to study epidemiology, risk factors and outcome of hospitalized youth patients injured in road traffic collisions in order to give recommendations for prevention.MethodsWe prospectively studied all youth (15–24 years) patients having traffic-related injuries who were admitted to Al Ain or Tawam Hospitals, Al Ain City, or who died after arrival to these hospitals during an 18 months period. Demography, location and time of injury, injured body regions, severity, hospital and intensive care unit (ICU) stay and outcome were analyzed.ResultsThree hundred thirty-three patients having a mean age (SD) of 20 years (2.5) were studied. 87% were males and 72% were UAE nationals. Majority of injured patients were drivers or front-seat passengers (70%), followed by back seat passengers (16%), motorcyclists (5%) and pedestrians (4%). Rollover was the most common crash mechanism (35%), followed by front crash (34%). Twenty seven patients (8%) were ejected during the crash, 14 during roll-over, 7 from quadribikes and three during front crash. 20% of the patients were admitted to the ICU. Median Glasgow Coma Scale was 15 (range 3–15), median Injury Severity Score was 5 (range 1–41), and median total hospital stay was 3 days (range 1–73). Nine (3%) patients died.ConclusionsYoung UAE-national males are at a higher risk of being injured at traffic. Rollover crash was frequent with high risk of ejection. Promotion of traffic safety and enforcement of safety legislation is necessary.
Highlights
Traffic-related injuries are the most common cause of morbidity and mortality of the youth
We aimed to study the epidemiology, risk factors and outcomes of hospitalized road traffic injured youth patients in order to give recommendations for prevention
We prospectively studied all youth patients (15–24 year old) who were admitted to Al Ain City’s two major trauma centers or who died after arrival to these hospitals following road traffic collisions (RTCs) during the period of April 2006 to October 2007
Summary
Traffic-related injuries are the most common cause of morbidity and mortality of the youth. Traffic-related injuries are the most common cause of premature morbidity and a leading cause of death among the youth in the Middle-East [1, 2]. These injuries have a high impact on the affected victims, their families and societies [1]. UAE is a fast developing country with a large proportion of young population. It has a growing number of vehicles (2.7 million in 2013) [3] and an expanding network of highways
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