Road traffic injuries in an urban area in Mexico: An epidemiological and cost analysis

The objective of this study was to do an epidemiological and costs analysis of the impact of road traffic injuries on the demand for emergency room services at hospitals located in the city of Cuernavaca, Mexico. The studied population included injured people who demanded medical attention at the em...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Accident analysis and prevention 2004, Vol.36 (1), p.37-42
Main Authors: Hı́jar, Martha, Arredondo, Armando, Carrillo, Carlos, Solórzano, Luis
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accidents, Traffic - economics
Accidents, Traffic - statistics & numerical data
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Child
Child, Preschool
Costs
Costs and Cost Analysis
Emergency room
Emergency Service, Hospital - economics
Emergency Service, Hospital - utilization
Female
Health Care Costs
Health services
Humans
Infant
Male
Mexico
Mexico - epidemiology
Middle Aged
Pedestrian
Traffic
Urban Health Services - economics
Urban Health Services - utilization
Wounds and Injuries - economics
Wounds and Injuries - epidemiology
Wounds and Injuries - therapy
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Summary:The objective of this study was to do an epidemiological and costs analysis of the impact of road traffic injuries on the demand for emergency room services at hospitals located in the city of Cuernavaca, Mexico. The studied population included injured people who demanded medical attention at the emergency room for injuries due to events in public places, occurring between February and April 2001. Trained interviewers collected the data at the emergency room, 24 h a day. The statistical analysis included simple and bivariate analysis using χ 2 odds ratio (OR), and a confidence interval of 95%. The costs analysis included the expenses during the process of searching for and finding care for injuries. There were 433 injured people, 233 (54%) were victims of road traffic accidents, 72% of crashes, and 28% were injured pedestrian and cyclists. Variables associated with the demand of emergency care due to road traffic injuries in comparison with other accidents, were: severity of injuries (OR 2.60, CI 1.44–4.71), and thorax injury (OR 4.64, CI 1.03–20.89). Pedestrians had higher costs for health care and 80% of them had to pay out-of-pocket ( P
ISSN:0001-4575
1879-2057
DOI:10.1016/S0001-4575(02)00112-4