Epidemiological characteristics of fatal pedestrian accidents in Fars Province of Iran: a community-based survey.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the epidemiological characteristics of fatal pedestrian accidents in Fars Province of Iran.


METHODS
This cross-sectional study was conducted in Fars Province of Iran during a 29-month period from March 2009 to July 2011. The data were from the Fars Forensic Medicine Registry. In 4 923 recorded road traffic accident fatalities, 971 deaths were due to pedestrian accidents. The demographic and accident-related information were analyzed by SPSS version 11.5. P value less than 0.05 was considered significant.


RESULTS
The mean age of decedents was (47.2+/-26.2) years, ranging from 6 months to 103 years old. Males accounted for 69.8% of all deaths. Fatal accidents were most common in September; 56.1% of the fatal injuries occurred on intracity roads and 33.1% on extracity roads. Fatal head injuries were present in 60.54% of cases. Evaluation of the injury site and the cause of death found that they were significantly associated with age, interval between injury and death. Besides, the type of roads played an important role in mortality.


CONCLUSIONS
Although the clinical management of trauma patients has been improved in our country in the recent decade, decreasing the burden of injuries needs coordination among trauma system organizations.
Health Policy Research Center, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
Payam
P
Peymani
Seyed Taghi
ST
Heydari
Amin
A
Hoseinzadeh
Yaser
Y
Sarikhani
Arya
A
Hedjazi
Mohammad
M
Zarenezhad
Ghasem
G
Moafian
Mohammad Reza
MR
Aghabeigi
Najmeh
N
Maharlouei
Ali
A
Foroutan
Seyed Mehdi
SM
Ahmadi
Fariborz
F
Ghaffarpasand
Hassan
H
Joulaei
Kamran B
KB
Lankarani
D000063:Accidents, Traffic; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D000069636:Pedestrians; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014947:Wounds and Injuries