Comparison of road traffic fatalities and injuries in Iran with other countries / 中华创伤杂志(英文版)

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To compare fatalities and injuries in road traffic crashes (RTC) in Iran with other countries.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Data were obtained from national health sources of Iran. These data included population number, registered motor-vehicles number, number of RTCs and consequent fatalities and injuries from 1997 to 2006.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>RTC fatality and injury rates increased from 1997 to 2005, but decreased in 2006. The overall men/women ratio in the RTC fatalities was 4.2:1. High RTC fatality rate of 39 per 100 000 population in Iran was almost the same as some other developing countries. In Iran, RTC fatalities in recent years were almost twice as much as the highest rate among the European countries.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>This investigation shows that in spite of reduction of RTC fatality in Iran in 2006, it is still one of the highest in the world. Moreover, this paper describes the state of RTC-related parameters in a developing country in comparison with the developed countries.</p>

Spinal cord injuries from road traffic crashes in southeastern Iran / 中华创伤杂志(英文版)

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To analyze the data of patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) induced by road traffic crashes in southeastern Iran for better understanding the pattern of these injuries and therefore for better designing health system planning.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>In this historical cohort study, the patients who had been transferred to Level I trauma center in southeastern Iran due to road traffic accidents with radiographic documented SCI were evaluated.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Among 64 patients with SCI, 38 patients (59.4%, 36 males and 2 females, aged 27.42 years+/-9.44 years on average) were injured by road traffic accidents. Car and motorcycle accidents were responsible for 26 cases (68.4%) and 12 cases (31.6%), respectively. And 31 patients (81.6%) had complete SCI. Conus medularis (T12-L2) was the most affected level.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Results are discussed in terms of preventive measures, specifically those concerning the use of restraint and helmet and driving behavior. This study should be extended nationally to gain a larger case series so that the SCI risk of particular vehicle configurations, considering other crash factors, can be more precisely quantified and the characteristics for low occurrence of SCI can be more precisely identified.</p>