Emergency Medical Service Response Time for Road Traffic Accidents in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Analysis of National Data (2016–2020)

Abstract

Despite preventive measures and initiatives, road traffic accidents are on the rise in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This study aimed to investigate the emergency medical service unit’s response to RTA by socio-demographic and accident-related variables in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This retrospective survey included Saudi Red Crescent Authority data on road traffic accidents between 2016 and 2020. As part of the study, information on sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., age, sex, and nationality), accident-related data (type and place of the accident), and response time to road traffic accidents were extracted. Our study included 95,372 cases of road traffic accidents recorded by the Saudi Red Crescent Authority in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia between 2016 and 2020. Descriptive analyses were performed to explore the emergency medical service unit’s response time to road traffic accidents, and linear regression analyses were performed to investigate the predictors of response time. Most of the road traffic accident cases were among males (59.1%), and the age group of 25–34 years accounted for about a quarter (24.3%), while the mean age of the road traffic accident cases was 30.13 (±12.86) years. Among the regions, the capital city of Riyadh experienced the highest proportion of road traffic accidents (25.3%). In most road traffic accidents, the mission acceptance time was excellent (0–60 s; 93.7%), movement duration was excellent (<120 s; 91.1%), reaching site duration was excellent (<12 min; 57.9%), treatment start time was excellent (<120 s; 76.4%), duration at the scene was poor (>15 min; 40.8%), reaching hospital duration was good (30–60 min; 52.7%), and in-hospital duration was poor (>15 min; 44.1%). Regions, places and types of accidents, age, gender, and nationality of victims were significantly associated with different parameters of response time. Excellent response time was observed in most of the parameters except the duration at the scene, reaching hospital duration, and in-hospital duration. Apart from the initiatives to prevent road traffic accidents, policymakers should focus on strategies to improve accident response time to save lives.

The Epidemiology of Prehospital Ambulance Crashes: A National Experience Across Saudi Red Crescent Authority

“…This study found that the incidents of ambulance crashes were higher in the month of April followed by February and over the past three years, the month of April in the Gregorian Calendar was equivalent to the holy month of Ramadan in the Islamic Hijri Calendar which has been known for its high rates of RTAs [ 1 , 16 ]. The Holy Ramadan is a religious ritual with reduced working hours for employees and students.…”

“…The high population and urbanization of these cities and the higher frequency of traffic could account for the number of accidents, as they are consistent with studies from other countries [ 17 , 18 ]. A recent study from Saudi Arabia analyzed the national data of EMS response time for RTAs and reported the capital city of Riyadh marked the highest proportion of the RTAs followed by Makkah region [ 16 , 19 ].…”

Prevalence and Determinants of Road Traffic Accidents in Saudi Arabia: A Systematic Review

“…Socio-demographic characteristics of participants: The socio-demographic information of participants from nine distinct studies is included in Table 1, which summarises the large number of cases from references [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]. These studies' geographic scope is constrained because they were all selected within Saudi Arabia's regions, like the Aseer region [22], Al Kharj [23], Riyadh [24,26], Tabuk [25], Eastern Province [27], and Ha'il [28].…”

“…These studies' geographic scope is constrained because they were all selected within Saudi Arabia's regions, like the Aseer region [22], Al Kharj [23], Riyadh [24,26], Tabuk [25], Eastern Province [27], and Ha'il [28]. The research methodology of the reviewed studies [23,[25][26][27] used a cross-sectional design; one study [20] was Analysis of national data, and the others [21,22,24,28] were retrospective studies.…”

Use of Child Safety Seat and its Determinants in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia: A Cross-sectional Study

“…[ 2 ] Moreover, MVA was reported to be the most frequent cause of premature death in Saudi Arabia from 2007 to 2017, with a high occurrence of MVA reported in the city of Jeddah. [ 3 ] MVA-related deaths are a growing cause of public concern due to the physical, mental, and financial burden on individuals and families involved. [ 4 ]…”