title: Traffic-related pedestrian injuries amongst expatriate workers in Qatar: a need for cross-cultural injury prevention programme.
abstract: Qatar is a rapidly developing country in which expatriate workers constitute the majority of population. Also, Qatar is an example of right-sided road driving convention (RDC) country. The aim of our study is to analyse the traffic-related pedestrian injuries (TRPI) amongst expatriates in relation to RDC. A retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data of TRPI patients who were admitted to the only Level I trauma centre in Qatar between 2009 and 2011 was performed. Demographics, country of origin, time of injury, injury severity score (ISS), RDC, morbidity and mortality were analysed. Of the 4997 injured patients, 601 (12%) were pedestrians. Of these, 92% were expatriates. The mean age was 31.8 ± 17 and 64% of them were 18-45 years old. Mean ISS was higher in those who were injured on weekends (15.4 ± 10) in comparison to working days (13.5 ± 10) (p = 0.04). The overall mortality was 15%. Sixty-seven percent of those who died were from left RDC countries. Expatriate workers, originally from left RDC countries are disproportionately affected by TRPI. This group of injured patients requires focused injury prevention programmes that are culture and language appropriate.
authors.affiliation: a Section of Trauma Surgery, Hamad General Hospital , Doha , Qatar.
authors.forename: Rifat
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Latifi
authors.forename: Ayman
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: El-Menyar
authors.forename: Hassan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Al-Thani
authors.forename: Ahmad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zarour
authors.forename: Ashok
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Parchani
authors.forename: Husham
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Abdulrahman
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Asim
authors.forename: Ruben
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Peralta
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Consunji
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000401:mortality / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001211:Asia, Western / Q000208:ethnology; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D054521:Cultural Competency; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010679:Philippines / Q000208:ethnology; D011780:Qatar / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors; D016138:Walking; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000517:prevention & control; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: driving conventions; expatriates; injury prevention; pedestrians