Investigating the Relative Risk Factors of Injuries Caused by Accidents on Roads in the Mashhad Area in 2007

BACKGROUND Currently, accidents are the second highest cause of death in most societies. Traffic accidents account for the largest proportion of accidental deaths. The aim of this report was to identify the accidents that cause casualties on the roads around Mashhad. METHODS This study was a case-control study, where the cases were drivers who had accidents resulted in casualties, and the controls were drivers who had accidents in the same locations without casualties. Variables included age, sex, seatbelt use, spontaneous combustion, entrapment within the vehicle, ejection from the vehicle, music playing in the vehicle at the time of the accident, use of cell phone, smoking at the time of the accident, the direction of the accident, the time of day, and the model of the vehicle. RESULTS Interviews were conducted with the 90% of the cases and the 93% of the controls who consented to being interviewed. Females accounted for 16.2% of the case group and 23.4% of the control group, and males comprised 83.8 % of the cases and 76.6% of the controls. The average age of the case group was 35.5±10.5 and of the control group was 39.4±9.8 years. The use of a seatbelt as a safety factor was significantly greater in the control group (OR=0.44). Combustion occurred in approximately 21% of the accidents in the case group, but in only 1.3% of the accidents in the control group. Being trapped in and being ejected from the vehicle were significantly more prevalent in the case group. CONCLUSIONS According to the results of this study, the fastening of seatbelts had a significantly positive effect on reducing the injuries caused by an accident. Age was another significant indicator influencing the outcome of road accidents education through media seems to play a great role in reducing mortality and morbidity due to road accident.