Necessity of an Integrated Road Traffic Injuries Surveillance System: A Community-Based Study

Abstract

Objectives: A prerequisite to improving the situation of traffic accidents and injury prevention is to set up a road traffic accident and victim information system (RTAVIS), which does not exist in Iran. The objective of this study was to compare the 3 major sources of information, including police, emergency medical services (EMS), and hospitals, to show the necessity of an integrated road traffic injury surveillance system.

Method: This prospective cohort study was performed by pursuing all road traffic accident (RTA) cases during one year (May 2008 to May 2009) within 30 days of their occurrence by a draft questionnaire and data pooling from participating sources.

Results: After pooling the data from all organizations, it was revealed that during one year, 245 road traffic accidents occurred in Tehran–Abali route (with a 45-km radius) in which 434 people were either injured or deceased. Out of these crash injuries, police and EMS were unaware of 67 and 51 cases, respectively. In other words, police, pre-hospital emergency services and hospitals reported 56.2, 82.9, and 76.4 percent of the entire number of injuries or deaths, respectively.

Conclusion: None of the organizations investigated, that is, police, EMS, and health care facilities, have complete records on injuries and deaths caused by traffic accidents. We recommend the formulation and implementation of an integrated and multidisciplinary data collection system of national traffic accidents with the collaboration of police, Ministry of Health and Medical Education (EMS and hospitals), forensic medicine, and the Iranian Red Crescent.

Keywords:

• Surveillance
• Road traffic accident
• Injury
• Death

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors are grateful to the Applied Research Center of Traffic Police for supporting this project and all of the organizations and individuals who helped the executive team during different phases of this research. Special thanks to Colonel Dr. Alireza Esmaeeli (commander of road traffic police), Colonel Homayoon Esfandi, Colonel Majid Karbalaee, Captain Nadimi, Dr. Gholamreza Masoomi (head of disaster management and the emergency medical center of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education), Dr. Reza Dehghanpour (head of Tehran's emergency medical services), the hard-working technicians at the pre-hospital emergency unit, and physicians at the academic hospitals in Tehran for their partnership and cooperation in implementing this project. We also owe a great debt of gratitude to Nasim Boroumand and Cassandra Hirt, who helped us in preparing and reviewing the manuscript.

Notes

Statistical assumptions: 0.41–0.60, moderate agreement; 0.61–0.80 substantial agreement.