title: Study of the pattern of mortality caused by Traffic Accidents (TAs) in The South of Iran.
abstract: To investigate the pattern of mortality caused by road traffic accidents and its associated factors.
  
  
  
  The retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted in the Fars province of Iran and comprised data of all people having died in road traffic accidents from March 21, 2011, to March 19, 2012. Using census method, all files related to deaths in road accidents were reviewed at the Legal Medicine Centre. Data was analysed using SPSS20.
  
  
  
  Of the 1668 people dead, 1291(77.4%) were male and 377(22.6 %) were female. The highest rate related to the age group 21-30 with 454(27%) killed. As for education level, the highest rate of mortality was 410(24.5%) for illiterate people and the least was 9(0.5%) for those having Masters degree or higher. In terms of time of year, the highest rate of mortality was 167(10%) between August 23and September 22, while the least was 82(5%) between July 23and August22. Head trauma was reported as the most important cause of death in 1191(71.4%) cases.
  
  
  
  Despite some minor differences, all provinces in Iran have the same patterns of death related to road traffic accidents.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Education & Promotion. Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Tayebeh
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rakhshani
authors.affiliation: Safety Promotion and Injury prevention Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rakhshani
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Medicine and Military Health. AJA University of Medical Sciences. Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Zahra Sadat
authors.initials: ZS
authors.lastname: Asadi
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Education and Health Promotion, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hadiabasi
authors.affiliation: Fatemiyeh (P.B.U.H) Shiraz, Non-governmental, Non-profit High Education Institute, Shiraz,Iran.
authors.forename: Kazem
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Khorramdel
authors.affiliation: Iranian Legal Medicine Research Center, Legal Medicine Organization, Tehran, and Member of Gastroenterohepatology Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zarenezhad
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000401:mortality*; D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005554:Forensic Medicine; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Traffic accidents, Pattern of mortality, Fars province.