Injury patterns and risk factors of motorcycle crashes / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the injury patterns and risk factors of motorcycle crashes.DATA SOURCES A computer-based online search was undertaken to identify English articles about motorcycle crashes published from January 1980 to December 2005 in Medline database and from January 1995 to December 2005 in EMCC database, the keywords were "motorcycle,crash, injury, traffic accident". Meanwhile, a manual search of relevant journals and monographs was performed for the articles and data published in Chinese.STUDY SELECTION Based on the principles of reliability, advancement and efficiency, the data were primarily examined, and the original articles in this research field were selected to look up the full-texts. The repetitive studies and reviews were excluded.DATA EXTRACTION Totally 87 articles were collected about the incidence, mechanism and protective methods of motorcycle crashes and motorcycle injuries, 36 of them were excluded, and finally 51 were enrolled.DATA SYNTHESIS: The most important variable affecting mortality in motorcycle crashes is head injury. Wearing a helmet should continue to be compulsory, as this single measure can help to reduce the mortality in motorcyclists. Thoracic and abdominal trauma as well as pelvic ring fractures associated with long bone injuries appears to be the secondary factors contributing to reduced survival. The injured motorcyclists were predominant young, novice inexperienced riders and male. A fatal outcome was more likely to be associated with a larger engine capacity motorcycle, collision with a heavy vehicle, head on collision, and collision at a non-junction road. Alcohol and excessive speed were common factors associated with motorcyclist crash involvement.CONCLUSION: Motorcycle crashes are an increasing public health problem in the present world. A thorough understanding of the injury patterns and risk factors in motorcyclists may improve the initial assessment and management of these patients and reduce the risk of inflicting further iatrogenic complications. Renewed and strengthened prevention efforts are warranted. A stricter enforcement of helmet laws would be effective to increase compliance with active protection devices. Stricter law enforcement also should be carried out to prevent alcohol-related accidents. It is hoped that these results will ultimately be used in concert with that from other researchers focusing on preventative devices to reduce the incidence of motorcycle crashes and still others examining specific therapies to address the type and nature of the motorcycle injury.