Road traffic injury among pedestrians: an emerging research focus in Bangladesh

Correspondence: Lt. Col. Dr. Mushtaq Ahmad, Associate Professor & Head, Department of Forensic Medicine, Armed Forces Medical College, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Phone: +88 01711140546, e-mail: mushtaq863@yahoo.com Introduction Road traffic accidents (RTA) are responsible for greatest number of injuries and fatalities world wide by killing around 1.2 million people each year and injuring 50 million who occupy 30-70 % of orthopedic beds in developing countries hospitals. The financial costs to the communities for road traffic accidents is much greater than required for the treatment of any other major disease. These are the most common causes of death below the age 50 years in developed countries. With continuation of present trends, road traffic injuries are predicted to be the third leading contributor to the global burden of disease, just behind clinical depression and heart disease by 2020. In developing countries 90 percent of the disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) lost occur because of road traffic injury. One DALY is roughly equivalent to one healthy year of life lost. In developing and poor countries, three-quarters of all poor families who had a member affected by road traffic accident reported a decrease in their standard of living, and 61 percent reported they had to borrow money to cover expenses following their loss. World bank estimates, road traffic injuries cost 1 percent to 2 percent of the gross national product (GNP) of developing countries, or twice the total amount of development aid received worldwide by developing countries. Road traffic injuries in developing countries mostly affect pedestrians, passengers, and cyclists comprising 90% cases of injuries. This study has been done to find out the epidemiological factors related to pedestrians injury by Road Traffic Accidents in Dhaka City, determine the socio demographic characteristics of pedestrians and the clinical injury pattern among them. Abstract Background: Road traffic accidents (RTA) are responsible for greatest number of injuries and fatalities world wide by killing around 1.2 million people each year and injuring 50 million. Pedestrians are the most common victims of RTAs. Objectives: This study has been done to find out the epidemiological factors, socio demographic characteristics and the clinical injury pattern among pedestrians injured by Road Traffic Accidents in Dhaka City. Materials & Methods: This descriptive cross sectional study done from December 2015 to September 2016 at three tertiary level referral hospital in Dhaka. One hundred fifty two (pedestrians) were selected purposively as research sample with 95% confidence level and 5% confidence interval. The primary data was collected from the patients who were discharged from hospital by face to face exit interview using a semi-structured questionnaire. Results: Among 152 pedestrian victims interviewed; 88(58%) were male. Maximum accidents occurred at daytime 63 (41.45 %), and on city main roads 68 (44 %). Highest number of accidents were caused by buses 44 (36.09 %) and highest incidence of RTA 60(39.47%) was observed among the age group 21 to 30 yrs. Most of the victims 129( 84.85%) were knocked down by the vehicles while crossing the roads (hit and run injury), 114(75.00%) were from earning group below 15,000 taka per month, 121(79.61%) never use foot over bridge, 78(51.32)% were using mobile phone while crossing the road. 152(100%) victims had multiple abrasion and bruise, 94(61.84%) had lacerations, 64(42.10%) had fracture of upper limb bones, 53(34.87%) had fracture of lower limb bones and 53(34.87%) had haematoma in soft tissue over skull. Conclusion: Road accident and its severity can be prevented by strict application of traffic rules , motivation of public and proper training of drivers.