title: National burden of road traffic injuries in Argentina.
abstract: More than 1.2 million people die and as many as 50 million people are injured or disabled due to road traffic injuries (RTIs) every year worldwide. The lack of reliable data hinders efforts to describe the characteristics of the issue and prioritise prevention activities. The objective was to provide a snapshot of fatal and non-fatal RTI in Argentina. We used the methodology proposed by the Global Burden of Disease Injury Expert group. External causes of deaths with unknown codes were proportionately redistributed over the known categories. In 2007 in Argentina, we estimated 5915 RTI deaths, compared with 3983 RTI deaths reported previously by the Ministry of Health, accounting for 1931 additional cases. The highest number of deaths occurred in young men (15-29 years old), although the highest RTI death rates were in the age group of 55 years and older. Four-wheeled vehicle occupants were the most common road user type killed (59.1%); vulnerable road users represented one third (29.5%) of deaths and 64% of non-fatal RTI. The national and regional estimates of RTI in Argentina should help policy makers and public-health researchers to understand the importance of RTI prevention and design specific interventions to further reduce these preventable deaths and injuries.
authors.affiliation: Administración Nacional de Laboratorios e Institutos de Salud Malbran, Instituto Nacional de Epidemiología Dr. J.H. Jara, Mar del Plata, Argentina. clotildeubeda@yahoo.com.ar
authors.forename: Clotilde
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ubeda
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Espitia-Hardeman
authors.forename: Kavi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bhalla
authors.forename: Nagesh N
authors.initials: NN
authors.lastname: Borse
authors.forename: Jerry Puthenpurakal
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Abraham
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dellinger
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ferrante
authors.forename: Raquel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Peltzer
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000401:mortality* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001118:Argentina / Q000453:epidemiology; D001336:Automobiles / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001642:Bicycling / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003644:Death Certificates; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009049:Motorcycles / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010351:Patient Discharge; D012737:Sex Factors; D016138:Walking / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality; D055815:Young Adult