Latin American Clinical Epidemiology Network Series - Paper 5: Years of life lost due to premature death in traffic accidents in Bogota, Colombia.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to quantify the number of years of life lost in traffic accidents in Bogota, Colombia. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: The years of life lost were calculated using the 'age-standardized expected years of life lost' method, the table of Japanese adjusted life expectancy and the database of the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Science between September 2012 and August 2013. RESULTS: During a period of 1 year, 430 people died and 10,056.3 years of life were lost in Bogota due to traffic accidents. CONCLUSION: The mortality burden of traffic accidents in Bogota is high. Further studies are required in order to characterize the accidents and develop effective policy decisions.

Alcohol consumption as an incremental factor in health care costs for traffic accident victims: evidence in a medium sized Colombian city.

OBJECTIVES: Identify the possibility that alcohol consumption represents an incremental factor in healthcare costs of patients involved in traffic accidents. METHODS: Data of people admitted into three major health institutions from an intermediate city in Colombia was collected. Socio-demographic characteristics, health care costs and alcohol consumption levels by breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) methodology were identified. Generalized linear models were applied to investigate whether alcohol consumption acts as an incremental factor for healthcare costs. RESULTS: The average cost of healthcare was 878 USD. In general, there are differences between health care costs for patients with positive blood alcohol level compared with those who had negative levels. Univariate analysis shows that the average cost of care can be 2.26 times higher (95% CI: 1.20-4.23), and after controlling for patient characteristics, alcohol consumption represents an incremental factor of almost 1.66 times (95% CI: 1.05-2.62). CONCLUSIONS: Alcohol is identified as a possible factor associated with the increased use of direct health care resources. The estimates show the need to implement and enhance prevention programs against alcohol consumption among citizens, in order to mitigate the impact that traffic accidents have on their health status. The law enforcement to help reduce driving under the influence of alcoholic beverages could help to diminish the economic and social impacts of this problem.