Transportation-related Injuries among US Foreign-born Population: Findings from US National Health Interview Survey, 2000-2005

Objective. We compared prevalence ratio and characteristics of transportation-related injuries between foreign-born and US-born individuals. Methods. The 2000-2005 National Health Interview Survey data were used to calculate the prevalence of transportation-related injuries among foreign-born and US-born individuals aged 16 years and older. Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to calculate injury prevalence ratios (PR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) by birth place and years of residence while controlling for the confounding effect of demographic and family income, status of access medical care, alcohol drinking. Results. Of 431,825 respondents, a total of 1,457 individuals reported transportation-related injuries, with US-born individuals having an injury prevalence of 36 (95% CI=34-39) and foreign-born individuals having a prevalence of 28 (95% CI= 24-33) per 10,000 individuals (P-value <0.05). However, the PR was similar between foreign-born and US-born respondents. Foreign-born individuals were more likely to be injured in passenger cars (72.0% vs. 60.4%) and were more likely to be restrained by seat belts (92.0% vs. 83.0%) than US-born individuals when injury events occurred. Foreign-born passengers in passenger car were less likely to be retrained by seat belts compared with US-born passengers (50% vs. 39%); in contrast, US-born truck drivers were less to be restrained by safety seat belts (41% vs. 23%). Conclusion. Although injury characteristics were slightly different between two groups, foreign-born individuals in the U.S. had a similar prevalence risk ratio (PR) of transportation-related injuries compared with US-born individuals.