economic burden of road traffic crashes in tehran province, iran in 2009

introduction: road traffic crashes (rtcs) are very common across the world and in iran. the aim of this study was to estimate the economic burden of road traffic accidents in tehran province, iran in 2009. methods: t his was a descriptive, cross-sectional retrospective study. the study population included all deceased and injuries due to rtcs in tehran in 2009. the economic burden of rtc was estimated by human capital approach. the costs were divided into three groups: direct costs (pre-hospital, hospital costs, physiotherapy and rehabilitation costs, property damage costs, administrative costs and funeral costs), indirect costs (costs of income loss or potential production lost) and intangible costs. data were extracted from two databases specially designed at iran ministry of health and medical education and at legal medicine organization of iran for recording traffic road injuries and from available literature. the average cost of each hospitalization was estimated by review of medical records. results: in 2009, 2410 people died and a further 92,100 people were injured due to rtc in tehran. the total annual cost of road accidents in tehran was 11,185,313 iranian rials (irr). 64.7% of the total costs were related to the direct costs, %23.3 of the total costs were related to indirect costs and %12 of the total costs were related to direct costs. conclusion: this study showed that the burden of rtc in tehran was substantial which included about 0.3 to 0.4 percent of iran’s gross domestic product in 2009.