Epidemiology of Road Traffic Injuries among Elderly People; A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Objective:To systematically review the epidemiological patterns and interventions for prevention of road traffic injuries (RTIs) among elderly. Methods:Searching keywords including: accident, trauma, road injury, road traffic injuries, aging, old, elder, strategy, intervention, road traffic crash prevention and traffic accident in databases including, Google scholar, SID, IranMedex, PubMed and Scopus. English and non-Persian articles, articles presented in congresses, articles that considered elderly people to have age under than 60 years were excluded. The reporting quality of articles was assessed by two experts using Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) check list.Results:RTIs compromised 23.6% of total injuries among elderly. The most frequent injuries were about car accidents (51.4%). Pedestrian injuries composed 48.1% of the RTIs. Head and neck (32.1%) were most injured body parts. There was a significant difference between elderly and non-elderly people in terms of RTIs associated mortality (Odd=2.57 [1.2-5.4 CI 95%]). Overall 25 main domains of intervention and 73 subordinate domains were extracted in five categories (human, road and environment, tools and cars, medical, legal and political issues). Conclusion:According to the notable prevalence and fatality of RTIs, lack of sufficient studies and valid evidence of the present study can provide an appropriate evidence for better interventions for RTIs prevention among elderly.

Factors influencing vehicle passenger fatality have changed over 10 years: a nationwide hospital-based study

“…The GCS is well correlated with fatality after head injuries. A systematic review and meta-analysis of trauma patients reported that older patients had higher mortality than younger patients 42,43 . Older patients have higher mortality and morbidity than younger patients, even in MVCs of equal severity 44,45 .…”

Global Incidence and Mortality Patterns of Pedestrian Road Traffic Injuries by Sociodemographic Index, with Forecasting: Findings from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors 2017 Study

“…Interestingly, children under 12 years are not able to use visual and vestibular information as effectively as adults [34,35]. Similarly, the elderly are also more susceptible to PIs and subsequent mortality due to a reduced reflex time, decreased sensory-motor coordination, and age-related auditory and visual impairment, resulting in a slow walk time when crossing streets [29,[36][37][38][39]. In addition, we are seeing a rise in geriatric injury as the population ages [28].…”

“…There are various mechanisms and causes of PIs that are mentioned in the literature. Motorcycle collisions with pedestrians are highlighted as being responsible for the majority of deaths [20,34,39,40,42]. However, some studies highlight other factors such as buses, trucks, freeways, weather conditions, time of day, road density, lack of appropriate signaling, zebra crossings, crossing the highway, walking on the pavement, bus stops, and speed [27,29,38,43,44].…”

Global Incidence and Mortality Patterns and Forecast of Pedestrian Road Traffic Injuries by Socio-Demographic Index Findings from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors 2017 Study

“…Children under 12 years are not able to use visual and vestibular information as effectively as adults [31,32]. Similar to children, the elderly are susceptible to PIs and their fatal complications due to a reduced reflex time, decreased sensorymotor coordination, and the associated auditory and visual impairment of age, resulting in a slow walk time when crossing streets [26,[33][34][35][36]. Geriatric injury increases as the population ages [25].…”