Epidemiology of accidents among users of two-wheeled motor vehicles. A surveillance study in two Italian cities.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: This paper describes a study on the epidemiology of accidents among users of two-wheeled motor vehicles in two Italian cities, Rome and Naples. METHODS: A surveillance study was conducted, recruiting the victims of accidents among users of two-wheeled motor vehicles, visiting the emergency departments of two Italian hospitals. The registration form includes personal data of the involved person, circumstances of the accident, means of arrival at the hospital, type of vehicles involved, helmet use, and eventually third parties involved, and data on the specific injury diagnosis. RESULTS: 736 injured drivers of two-wheeled motor vehicles were investigated for the study (65.1% males, 34.9% females). The mean age of the victims was 22.92 years; 42.9% of the injuries were the result of a single accident. In 35.5% of the injuries cars were involved and in 8.6% of the cases there was a passenger included. Only 12% of the injured people were wearing a helmet. Most of the lesions concerns the knee or lower leg (27.5%), followed by the head (17.5%), elbow and forearm (8.8%), wrist and hand (8.6%), shoulder and upper arm (8.4%) and ankle and foot (6.9%). Helmet use has a protective effect (OR = 0.23), whereas accidents in Naples and during dark hours are associated with an increased risk of head injury (respectively OR = 1.93, and OR = 1.46). CONCLUSION: In this study the lower injury risk due to the use of the helmet on the frequency and severity of head trauma was confirmed. Moreover, the results confirm that Emergency Departments can provide essential epidemiological information, and they have already provided clear arguments in favour of extending the compulsory use of helmets to people above 18 years in Italy.