Elsevier

Injury

Volume 1, Issue 3, January 1970, Pages 195-203
Injury

Sequelae of road injuries: A review of one year's admissions to an accident hospital

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Of the 4342 admissions of road accident cases to the Birmingham Accident Hospital in 1961, 1268 were admitted as in-patients, about half of these were short-stay cases and about one-quarter severe cases requiring intensive care. Of the in-patients, about one-quarter were pedestrians, and motor-cyclists and car occupants accounted for one-half, these proportions corresponding closely to national statistics of serious injuries in that year. Average treatment time was 11.5 days. Motor-cyclists and car occupants were close to this average, pedestrians longer, and pedal cyclists less. The circumstances and types of injury are analysed. Head injuries and limb fractures were common among all types of road user. Half of the total injuries were fractures. Permanent disablement was found in 21 per cent of all surviving in-patients and was particularly common among motor-cyclists and pedestrians. More than half the patients with permanent disablement were less than 30 years old at the time of injury. Of the severe injuries, more than half occurred after ‘office hours’ and there were more at the week-end than on ordinary working days. Our national hospital service must be planned to meet the needs of all severities of injury from whatever cause, but road accidents present particular problems in both the severity and multiplicity of injuries to all body areas which often require the immediate intensive care that can most economically be made available in major accident departments. The number of cases failing to reach hospital alive and the frequency of injuries resulting in permanent disablement indicate the need for research by major accident departments that could uncover the causes and nature of such injuries and so lead to improved methods of their prevention.

References (3)

  • GissaneW. et al.

    A Study of 183 Road Deaths in and around Birmingham in 1960

    Br. Med. J.

    (1961)
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Throughout this paper ‘motor-cyclists’ include the riders of scooters and mopeds.

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