Abstract

Background
Traumatic brain injury is the leading cause of death of people in motor vehicle (MV) accidents, which have been increasing in number in developing countries. A retrospective study was undertaken to evaluate all cases admitted to the emergency department of the authors' institution with suspected injury after involvement in a MV-related accident between January 2000 and January 2005.
Material and Method
During the study period a total of 2014 cases were admitted: 1258 were occupants of motor vehicles and 756 were pedestrians. Cases with traumatic brain injury were evaluated with respect to gender, age, Glasgow Coma Scales (GCS), and death.
Results
Five hundred thirty-two of the cases (386 male, 146 female, mean age: 26.8+/-20.3 years) involved in MV accidents experienced traumatic brain injuries, of which 299 were MV occupants and 233 were pedestrians. The pediatric (< or =16 years: 65.4%) and elderly (> or =65 years: 64.7%) groups were frequently involved as pedestrians in MV accidents; adults 17-64 years of age were involved as pedestrians at a lower rate (25.4%, p<0.001). The GCS values of the pedestrian victims were significantly lower than those of the MV occupants on admission (p<0.001).
Conclusions
The results show that improvements in car safety have reduced life-threatening conditions for occupants of motor vehicles, but this does not include pedestrian safety. There is great need for practical strategies to reduce or prevent MV accident-related injuries among pedestrians, especially for the pediatric and elderly groups who are most exposed to these injuries.

Keywords: young adult, Turkey - epidemiology, Trauma Severity Indices, Brain Injuries - pathology, Adolescent, Accidents, Traffic - statistics & numerical data