Health conditions of heavy vehicle drivers involved in a crash in Western Australia: a retrospective study using linked data.
OBJECTIVE
This retrospective study investigated the health conditions of a cohort of heavy vehicle drivers involved in a crash in Western Australia.


METHODS
Hospital separation records of heavy vehicle drivers admitted to hospital as a result of a road crash between 1 January 1988 and 31 December 2000 in Western Australia were analysed. Heavy vehicle drivers involved in a crash were first identified using the Western Australian Road Injury Database before linking to their hospital records. All hospital admissions for each driver admitted to hospital for a crash at least once during the study period were subsequently retrieved from the Health Services Linked Database.


RESULTS
There were 146 heavy vehicle drivers in the cohort. A total of 964 distinct in-patient episodes (the collection of all hospital admissions for a single event) were recorded for these drivers, with a minimum of one and a maximum of 84 hospital in-patient episodes per driver. The mean number of in-patient episodes for each driver was seven (SD=8.44), including an in-patient episode for a heavy vehicle crash.


CONCLUSIONS
The evidence presented for the cohort of heavy vehicle drivers hospitalised as a result of road crash confirms that these drivers are characterised with health conditions such as musculoskeletal problems and digestive disorders.
Meuleners
Lynn B
LB
Injury Research Centre, School of Population Health, The University of Western Australia, Crawley. lynnm@sph.uwa.edu.au
Lee
Andy H
AH
Legge
Matthew
M
Cercarelli
L Rina
LR
D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018986:Motor Vehicles; D012189:Retrospective Studies