PATTERN OF HEAD INJURIES IN FATAL ROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS - AN AUTOPSY BASED STUDY
Keywords:
Road traffic accident, Head injury, Skull fractureAbstract
In the current trends of population growth, industrialization and rapid urbanization there has been an exponential growth in the motor vehicles on road, especially in developing countries like India. As per WHO reporting deaths per annum due to road traffic crashes is 1.2 million worldwide and 80000 in India. In the present study the most vulnerable age group was found to be between 40 to 59 years (54.3%) with a predominance of males (87%). Majority of the victims were having good educational back ground (52.2%), belonged to middle socio-economic groups (55.5%) and married (80.4%). Two wheeler riders sustained head injuries most commonly (60.86%) followed by pedestrians on the road (23.91%). Among the victims riding 2 wheelers helmet was not used in most of the cases (85.71%). The period of survival was between 1 to 7 days in maximum cases (52.17%). Most common fracture of vault observed was linear type (56.56%) and the most frequently affected part of skull was frontal bone (52.17%) followed by temporal bone (30.43%). The extra-axial haemorrhages observed in autopsy in all these cases revealed that subdural haemorrhage was most frequently encountered i.e. in 36 cases (78.26%) marginally followed by subarachnoid haemorrhage (73.91%).
References
1. Establishment of a national level register to give insight about the epidemiological correlates and risk factors of RTAs will help in taking appropriate preventive measures.
2. More stringent traffic rules about using helmets, seat belts, drunken driving, use of mobile phones, lane driving etc must be brought. Bad roads should be repaired and adequate lighting should be provided in all the roads.
3. Emergency contact numbers should be provided in all the roads. Health care facilities should be improved to provide timely interventions to RTA victims. Adequate ambulance facilities should be made available in all
corners of country especially traumatic head injuries.
4. Separate emergency lane for transportation of patients and accident victims can help faster access to health care facilities.
5. Standardised national level guidelines should be developed for the management of RTA victims in order to improve their survival.
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