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Short Communication | Public Health | India | Volume 12 Issue 5, May 2023
Epidemiology of Road Traffic Accidents Reported in a Rural Health Centre of a Medical College in Puducherry
Chandar Sahanaa | Rajaram Saranya | Sandhiya Varadharaju | Thamizhararsi Vinayagam | Rajesh Kumar Konduru
Abstract: Background: Road Traffic Accident (RTA) is an injury due to crashes originating from, terminating with or involving a vehicle partially or fully on a public road. The burden of RTA were increasing at an alarming rate in India due to rapid urbanisation and use of motor vehicles without personal protection. RTAs are often preventable causes of death with good health education, optimal use of safety precautions, training in basic driving skills. Understanding the pattern of RTAs will enable us to have tailor made strategies at community level and thereby prevent the losses. Thus, the study aims to understand the epidemiological pattern of RTA reported in the rural health centre of a private medical college in Puducherry. Methods: A record based retrospective cross - sectional study was conducted at the rural health centre of a private tertiary care hospital in Puducherry to study the characteristics, burden, and pattern of RTAs cases reported for a one - year period from 1st January 2022 to 31st Dec 2022 were reviewed. A data extraction tool was used to collect the retrospective data. The collected data were entered in Epidata application version 3.1 and analysed using SPSS Statistics version 21.0. Result: Majority of the victims i.e. 75.6% were men and were in the age group of 20 - 40 years. 10% of the accidents occurred on city roads. Nearly 63% of the vehicle causing accidents motorised two wheelers and 48.7% had fallen from the vehicle as a mechanism of injury. About 36 % of the victims had lower extremities followed by 29.2% upper extremities and 19.5% head injury. (Table 2) Conclusion: There is an increase in incidences of road traffic accidents which can lead to a rise in public health burden. Most of the accidents occur between 20 - 40 years of age which is not a dependent age group which can affect the financial status of their families. RTAs are important public health hazards and should be addressed through strengthening of emergency healthcare, stricter enforcement of traffic laws and health education.
Keywords: Epidemiology, Road Traffic Accident, Pattern of accidents, Risk factors, Traffic law
Edition: Volume 12 Issue 5, May 2023,
Pages: 1525 - 1528