Publication:

Pattern of epidemiological correlates among road traffic accident in-patients of a tertiary care hospital of West Bengal, India

Background Road traffic accident (RTA) is an emerging epidemic of current century perpetrated by a complex interaction of human, vehicle and roadways/environmental factors. The current study was conducted to find out the various determinants of outcomes of RTAs in a district of West Bengal, India.

Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted over one year by face-to-face interviewing 384 RTA in-patients of departments of General Surgery and Orthopedics of a rural tertiary level hospital of West Bengal, India selected via scheduled sampling. Information pertaining to demographic and correlates of RTA were collected. Follow-up telephonic interview was conducted after one month for ascertaining the final outcome. There were 16 non-respondents in the 2nd phase who were excluded during final compilation rendering the sample size to 368. With SPSS version 22.0, descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were done.

Results 13.2% and 21.0% of study participants had death and disability respectively. On multinomial logistic regression assuming complete cure as reference outcome, both death and disability were revealed to have significant (<0.05) association to non-usage of protective devices, time of incidence (6AM to 6PM), poor road condition, sustaining multiple injuries and lapsing ‘golden hour’ for treatment.

Conclusions Stringent enforcement of legislations regarding various road safety measures, improving ply-worthiness of roads and establishment of trauma care centre at the district are essential to induce road “safe systems”.