Mortality and Morbidity from Motor Vehicle Accidents in Jamaica

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Hank Godfrey Williams, MSc and Elizabeth Ward, MD. Health Promotion and Protection Division, Ministry of Health, 2-4 King Street, Kingston, Jamaica, 1-876-419-0567, hankgodfreywilliams@yahoo.com

Purpose: To provide an epidemiologic analysis of mortality and morbidity from motor vehicle injuries in Jamaica and also factors associated with these injuries.

Methods: Data were drawn from the Jamaica Injury Surveillance System and the Jamaica Constabulary Force for 2004. Descriptive statistics and inferential analysis were carried on demographic and injury profile of victims.

Results: A total of 11,286 persons were injured in motor vehicle accidents. Hospital incident data shows 7,761 persons were treated in nine major public hospitals. The main perpetrator of injuries was motorcars (40%), followed by pedestrians (16%) and heavy vehicle (10%). Significantly more males (64%) than females (36%) (OR 1.93; CI 1.61, 2.34) were injured (p < 0.001). Males particularly (20 – 29 years) continued to show high-risk behaviour with 20%. Approximately 77% were treated and sent home, 11% were admitted to hospital, 6.4% were referred to clinics, 3% left before treated, and 0.3% died in hospitals. Contrastingly, police data revealed 3.2% of all accident victims were fatally injured with 80% occurring in rural areas. Passengers accounted for 30%, drivers 23%, pedestrians 27% and motorcyclists 25%. The main causes of mortalities were excessive speeding and lost of control. Safety devices were used in only 11.4% of these accidents with most fatalities occurring on weekdays between 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Conclusions: This study emphasizes the need for policy and strategic measures directed at improving road safety, and also the need for more efficient resources for removing transporting victims to medical facilities.

Learning Objectives:

I believe that this session will equip me to function more efficient as a biostatistician and for future work. This firm belief stems from the immeasurable scope for capacity building envisioned from this conference. This belief is carefully guided by the following principles that

1. This conference better enable me to carry out my daily function as a biostatistician through an increased knowledge based on international collaborative from the sharing of best practices.
2. It is my desire to apply the skills obtained from this field of conference in the presentation of health related data both locally and internationally.
3. It is my goal to apply the knowledge gained in this conference to the monitoring and evaluation health based program by means of continued research.

Keywords: Access to Health Care, Advocacy

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered

Various Injury Topics

The 134th Annual Meeting & Exposition (November 4-8, 2006) of APHA