Epidemiological patterns and risk factors of motorcycle injuries in Iran and Eastern Mediterranean Region countries: a systematic review

Epidemiology of Traffic Fatalities among Motorcycle Users in East Azerbaijan, Iran

“…The estimated road traffic death rate (per 100 000 population) based on the global status report on road safety 2015 was reported to be 32.1 for Iran, 21% of which belong to motorcycle users [6]. However, Iranian official statistics, although reporting mortality rates as high as 44 per 100 000 population in 2005, are indicative of lower rates compared to WHO estimates for the given year being around 23.3 deaths per 100000 population [5, 8, 10]. Our calculated mortality rate was slightly lower than the national official rates.…”

“…Motorbikes are considered vulnerable vehicles due to their the lower safety and their low price compared to cars, which in turn makes youth who lack a riding license to be able to use them [8]. …”

“…Head was the most common cause of death in present study. Head trauma is the most common cause of mortalities in most traffic injuries; however, the figure is higher for the motorcycle injuries mostly due to higher vulnerability to head trauma in motorcycle injuries especially in low and middle income countries where many riders do not wear helmets [8, 16–18]. In nonfatal motorcycle accidents, however, the extremities are also reported to be the most common part of the body involved [19–21].…”

“…In most low and middle income countries, compared with high-income countries, a much higher portion of the road users include pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists, and nearly half of the fatal road traffic injuries in LMICs occur among motorcyclists. It has been shown that motorcycle injuries are a major public health problem in eastern Mediterranean region countries including Iran [8]. Despite lots of research done on road traffic safety in Iran, there is a large paucity of information based on vehicle-specific epidemiological studies, particularly in north-west of Iran.…”

Epidemiology of Road Traffic Injuries in Iran: Based on the Data from Disaster Management Information System (DMIS) Of the Iranian Red Crescent

“…As well, the mortality caused by RTIs in Iran had the highest rate in comparison with the other LMICs (11,12). It is estimated that RTIs in Iran each year cause the loss of 2271 years of life and also damage amounting to 6 billion dollars (13,14).…”