Epidemiological study on patients with road traffic accidents admitted in department of orthopaedics at a rural hospital in India (a retrospective study of more than 1000 patients)

Abstract

Background & Purpose: Road trauma is now defined as a killer disease by W.H.O. (World Health Organisation). India is also signatory to Brasilia declaration and is committed to reduce the number of road accidents and fatalities by 50 per cent by 2020. AIM: To evaluate the data collected on patients with road traffic accidents admitted to Dept. of orthopaedics at Dhiraj general hospital from 1st November 2008 to 30th November 2017. Materials and Methods: The study design is a single centre retrospective observational study with the target population being all patients 0-80 years admitted to Dept. of Orthopaedics with history of road traffic accidents. The period of study is from 1st November 2008 to 30th November 2017. Results: We have found a total of 857 accidents occurred leading to admission of 1014 patients in last 10 years in our rural hospital. More than 65% accident patients were found to be in the age group of 20-40 years and the next common age group being 40-50 years (146, 14%). Males (781, 77%) were more affected than females (233, 22%). Discussion: Road fatality rates in India are probably among the highest and out of 1.25 million deaths worldwide every year, 10 per cent (about 125,000) of all road deaths are in India. Conclusion: After this retrospective study we have come to know about the increasing trends in number of road traffic accidents. About 80% people are of 20-40 years age group, the bread winners of the family. Hence creating awareness about obeying traffic rules can help in reduction of road accidents.