title: Fatal traffic injuries among children and adolescents in three cities (capital Budapest, Vilnius, and Tallinn).
abstract: Motor vehicle accidental injuries are a frequent cause of death among young children and adolescents. The goal of this study was to compare patterns of injury between three capitals (Budapest, Vilnius, and Tallinn). Information on 190 fatal traffic accidents (69 pedestrians, 14 bicyclists, and 107 motor vehicle occupants) between 2002 and 2006 was collected from databases of medico-legal autopsies. The role of victims in accidents, the location of injuries, cause of death, survival period, and blood alcohol levels were evaluated. One-hundred and forty-one (74%) victims had a passive role in traffic as pedestrians, passengers in cars, or public transport. In victims who died at the scene, the rate of head injury was higher than in cases who received medical treatment (odds ratio = 2.58, CI = 1.2-5.55, p = 0.0127). These results underline the importance of postmortem studies to examine the pathomechanism of fatal traffic accidental injuries and to provide information for the prevention of road traffic accidents against children and adolescents.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic and Insurance Medicine, Semmelweis University, 1091-Hungary, Budapest. torok@igaz.sote.hu
authors.forename: Klára
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Töro
authors.forename: Fehér
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Szilvia
authors.forename: Dunay
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: György
authors.forename: Alvydas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pauliukevicius
authors.forename: Marija
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Caplinskiene
authors.forename: Romas
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Raudys
authors.forename: Delia
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lepik
authors.forename: Jana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tuusov
authors.forename: Marika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vali
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000401:mortality*; D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D001642:Bicycling / Q000293:injuries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants / Q000097:blood; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004957:Estonia / Q000453:epidemiology; D000431:Ethanol / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006814:Hungary / Q000453:epidemiology; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008097:Lithuania / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009049:Motorcycles / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants; D000431:Ethanol