Publication:

Epidemiological study of road traffic accident cases admitted in government tertiary hospital: a study from Punjab, India

Background Among all types of injuries road traffic injuries constitute a major public health problem. They lead to not only deaths but many more cases of morbidity and disability. People from all economic groups are affected but poor are affected the worst because they suffer from double brunt of injuries and also the economic loss; sometimes pushing them below the poverty line. The present study was conducted to study the epidemiological variables involved in road traffic accidents.

Methods 500 road traffic accident victims admitted in emergency department of Rajindra Hospital, a tertiary institute;  attached to Government Medical College, Patiala (Punjab) were studied from July 2002 to February 2003. In this descriptive study pretested proforma was used to know the various epidemiological factors related to road traffic accident victims. The demographic variables, category of road users, details of injured pedestrians and types of vehicles involved in road traffic accidents were studied.

Results The road traffic accident victims mainly include the young males, especially 21-30 years (31.4%), married (70.6%), and men (86.8%) mainly literate (66.6%), from rural areas of Punjab. Maximum accidents occurred during night time (8pm- 4am) and major involvement was of two wheelers (63.4%). Mainly drivers were affected in the road crashes (46.6%) followed by pedestrians (21.4%).

Conclusions young male drivers are affected the most, mainly involving two wheelers. There should be regular and continuous on-going traffic safety and awareness programs covering all the media especially directed towards education of drivers, pedestrians and young population; mainly focusing on  the schools and colleges youth.