title: Road traffic injuries in Rawalpindi city, Pakistan.
abstract: Data on road traffic accident (RTA) injuries and their outcome are scarce in Pakistan. This study assessed patterns of RTA injuries reported in Rawalpindi city using standard surveillance methods. All RTA injury patients presenting to emergency departments of 3 tertiary care facilities from July 2007 to June 2008 were included. RTA injuries (n = 19 828) accounted for 31.7% of all injuries. Among children aged 0-14 years females suffered twice as many RTA injuries as males (21.3% versus 11.4%), whereas this trend reversed for the age group 15-24 years (41.9% versus 21.7%). One-fifth of injuries were either fractures or concussion. Severity and outcome of injuries were worse for the age group 45 years and older. For every road traffic death in Rawalpindi city, 29 more people were hospitalized and 177 more received emergency department care. These results suggest the need for better RTA injury surveillance to identify preventive and control measures for the increasingly high road disease burden in this city.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Holy Family Hospital, Rawalpindi, Pakistan. dr_umar_farooq@yahoo.com
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Farooq
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Bhatti
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Siddiq
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Majeed
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Malik
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Razzak
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Khan
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010154:Pakistan / Q000453:epidemiology; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012307:Risk Factors; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*