[Epidemiology of traffic accidents in the province of Trento: first results of an integrated surveillance system (MITRIS)].
OBJECTIVE
Different data sources are available for the surveillance of road traffic accidents. Taken separately all have important limits. Therefore the integration of medical and non medical data are essential for the construction of a surveillance system able to direct preventive and repressive actions.


METHODS
Cross sectional study. A computerized system for the rapid and precise unification of medical data with data collected by the police force has been realized. The model is embedded in a Geographic Information System (WebGIS), providing the facility for additional spatial data analysis and modelling. Maps of the spatial density of the accidents which consider also the severity of the injuries from a medical point of view have been developed. Risk factors associated with the severity of the injuries have been evaluated by uni- and multivariate statistical analysis. The statistical significance of the associations have been tested with Pearson's test. Confidential intervals of the Odds ratios were calculated with a probability of 95%.


METHODS
Province of Trento, Italy.


METHODS
Number, dynamics and localization of road traffic accidents, activity of ambulance services, access to emergency departments and hospital admissions


RESULTS
For 805/930 injured persons it was possible to link the medical data to those collected by the police forces. 111 (16%) accidents have been classified as severe (with hospital admission) and 694 as moderate (without hospital admission). The most important risk factors associated with the severity are represented by the frontal crash and by being a vulnerable road user (pedestrian, cyclist and motorcyclist), specially those <15 years of age. The classification of the most important sites of road traffic accidents in the Trento municipality was significantly modified by the integration of the medical data giving more importance to the more dangerous sites in terms of severity of the injuries.


CONCLUSIONS
This study shows the feasibility of an integrated surveillance of road traffic accidents by using routinely collected data on a local basis.
Moghadam
Pirous Fateh
PF
Servizio osservatorio epidemiologico, Azienda provinciale per i servizi sanitari, Trento. Pirous.FatehMoghadam@apss.tn.it
Dallago
Gabriele
G
Piffer
Silvano
S
Zanon
Gabriele
G
Menegon
Stefano
S
Fontanari
Steno
S
Furlanello
Cesare
C
D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012307:Risk Factors; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control