Magnitude and fatality from road accidents among children in Tirana, Albania.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the prevalence of road accidents among children 1-14 years in Tirana, the capital city of Albania.


METHODS
A cross-sectional study was conducted including all recorded road accidents of children 1-14 years at the Directorate of Road Police in Tirana for the period 2000-2005. Information about type of accident (fatal vs. non-fatal event), year of event, age, sex and type of road user (i.e. injured children), reason of accident, and time of event was collected. Fisher's exact test was used to assess the associations of covariates with fatal road accidents.


METHODS
Overall, there were 177 recorded episodes of road accidents among children 1-14 years in Tirana during 2000-2005. Of these, 31 (17.5%) were fatal events. Fatal accidents were more prevalent among children aged 1-4 years compared with children 10-14 years (38.5%vs. 9.1%, respectively; P=0.007). There was no difference in fatality rates with respect to children's sex (18.7% in boys vs. 14.0% in girls; P=0.645), reason of accident (P=0.670), time of event (P=0.497), or year of accident (P=0.247).


CONCLUSIONS
Children aged 10-14 years are at a particularly high risk for fatal road accidents in Tirana. Furthermore, the exceptionally high fatality rate among pedestrian children points to the urgent need for working with parents, schools and local authorities in order to improve pedestrian skills and environments.


CONCLUSIONS
In Albania, immediate actions should be undertaken in order to enforce current legislation about mandatory use of child restraint and bicycle helmets.
Qirjako
Gentiana
G
Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Tirana, Albania. gentaqirjako@yahoo.com
Burazeri
Genc
G
Hysa
Bajram
B
Roshi
Enver
E
D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000401:mortality*; D000293:Adolescent; D000415:Albania / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male