Survey of road injuries in Qazvin

Abstract

Abstract Background: Trauma is one of the most common causes for emergency room referral & also the main cause for death in the first four decades of life. Objective: To determine the incidence of different types of road injuries at Qazvin hospitals. Methods: Using questionnaires, all the road accident casualties hospitalized at Shahid Rajaee’s (From June 1997 till July 1998) were incessantly visited through a descriptive study. Findings: 11.3% of emergency room referral was due to car accidents about half of which were road accidents. 53% of referrals were hospitalized most of which substained injury on Tehran-Qazvin highway. Injuries in order of frequency were as follows: Head trauma (49%), soft tissue injury (48%), Fractures (47%), abdominal injury (12%) and chest trauma (13%). Mortality of hospitalized casualties was (11%) & overall mortality of road accident casualties was more than 23% most of which were due to head injury. Conclusion: Increase in morbidity & mortality may be indication of traffic unsafely on Qazvin roads.