Injury pattern among non-fatal road traffic accident cases: a cross-sectional study in Central India.

RESEARCH QUESTION What is the pattern of injuries among non-fatal cases of road traffic accidents? OBJECTIVE To study the pattern of injuries among non-fatal cases of road traffic accidents. STUDY DESIGN Cross-sectional study. SETTING Nagpur, a city in central India. PARTICIPANTS 423 non-fatal cases of road traffic accidents reporting for treatment to Indira Gandhi Medical College, Nagpur during 1999-2000. STUDY VARIABLES Demographic characteristics, accident characteristics. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS Percentages, proportions, Chi-square test. RESULTS Out of total 423 subjects, 363 (85.8%) were male while only 60 (14.2%) were female subjects. Majority of the victims (75%) were in the age group 18- 37 years. Sideways collision was the most common type of accident seen in 269 (63.59%) cases. Two wheelers and LMV were the common vehicle being involved in accidents (69.97%) and these accidents were almost equally distributed in both half of the day. Fracture of the bones was the common injury afflicted to the victims followed by multiple injuries like blunt injury, abrasions and lacerations. Lower extremity was involved in 192 (45.39%) cases while multiple sites were affected in 114 (26.95%) cases. CONCLUSIONS In the present study, the fractures were the commonest injury among the victims of non-fatal road traffic accidents.