title: The effect of seatbelt use on injury patterns, disposition, and hospital charges for elders.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the relationships between seatbelt use and injury patterns, hospital charges, morbidity, and mortality in elder motor vehicle crash victims.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective review of individuals at least 65 years old presenting to an urban emergency department (ED) after a motor vehicle crash.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Over a two-year period, 339 patients had documentation of seatbelt use or non-use at the time of the crash. Of these, 241 (71%) patients had been wearing a seatbelt and 98 (29%) had not. Elders not using seatbelts were more likely to require hospitalization (29% unbelted vs. 17% belted) and had a higher mortality rate. Injury patterns were different in the two groups. Emergency department charges were significantly different between belted and unbelted elders ($351 vs. $451, p = 0.01) and head computed tomography (CT) utilization was higher in the unbelted group (25.6% vs 12.7%, p = 0.005).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Improved seatbelt compliance in elders can reduce injuries, hospitalization rates, ED charges, and mortality resulting from motor vehicle crashes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Injury Prevention Center, Rhode Island Hospital, 593 Eddy Street, Providence, RI 02903, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Coley
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Partridge
authors.forename: Cynthia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kaylor
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shapiro
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D017722:Hospital Charges / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012237:Rhode Island / Q000453:epidemiology; D012622:Seat Belts / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology*