Hospital burden of road traffic injury: major concern in primary and secondary level hospitals in Bangladesh.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the burden of road traffic injury (RTI) in primary and secondary level hospitals in Bangladesh, and its economic impact on affected families.


METHODS
Cross-sectional study.


METHODS
The study was carried out in February and March 2001. To estimate the burden of RTI patients and the length of stay in hospital, the discharge records of primary and secondary level hospitals were used as data sources. Records from 16 district hospitals and 45 Upazila health complexes (subdistrict level hospitals), selected at random, were included in this study. A direct interview method was adopted to estimate the patient costs of RTI; this involved interviewing patients or their attendants. In this study, patient costs included money spent by the patient for medicine, transport, food and lodging (including attendants).


RESULTS
Approximately 33% of the beds in primary and secondary level hospitals in Bangladesh were occupied by injury-related patients, and more than 19% of the injury patients had been injured in a road traffic accident. People aged 18-45 years were the major victims of RTI, and constituted 70% of the total RTI-related admissions in primary and secondary level hospitals. More than two-thirds of RTI patients were male. The average duration of hospital stay was 5.7 days, and the average patient cost for each RTI patient was US$86 (5834 BDT).


CONCLUSIONS
RTI is a major cause of hospital admission in Bangladesh, and represents an economic and social burden for the family and the nation. A national strategy and road safety programme need to be developed to reduce the hospital burden and minimize the economic and social impact.
Mashreky
S R
SR
Centre for Injury Prevention and Research Bangladesh (CIPRB), Dhaka 1206, Bangladesh. mashreky@ciprb.org
Rahman
A
A
Khan
T F
TF
Faruque
M
M
Svanström
L
L
Rahman
F
F
D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D001459:Bangladesh / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000191:economics; D005260:Female; D017721:Hospital Costs; D006761:Hospitals / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000191:economics; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000191:economics*; D055815:Young Adult