142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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303185
Geographic Disparities in Motor Vehicle Traffic-Related Injury Mortality in Taiwan

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Monday, November 17, 2014 : 3:30 PM - 3:45 PM

Shih-Hsuan Liu , Surveillance and Research Division, Health Promotion Administration, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taichung, Taiwan
Shih-Chia Liu , Surveillance and Research Division, Health Promotion Administration, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taichung, Taiwan
Yu-Hsuan Lin , Surveillance and Research Division, Health Promotion Administration, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taichung, Taiwan
Ping-Ling Chen , Graduate Institute of Injury Prevention and Control, College of Public Health, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan
Audio (mp3) recording Recorded Presentation (mp4)
Background: According to the statistics reported by Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) in 2012, unintentional injury was ranked as the 6th cause of death for the whole population in Taiwan. Motor vehicle traffic related injuries were the leading cause of unintentional injury deaths. Geographic disparities across urbanization levels were reported in European region.

Methods: All townships in Taiwan were grouped into to 7 geographic clusters, including high urbanization towns, medium urbanization towns, boom towns, general towns, aging population towns, agriculture and remote towns. Agriculture and remote towns were further merged due to small population in each cluster. Motor vehicle traffic related injury deaths from 2006 to 2011 in each cluster were calculated using the death certificates data released by MOHW and trends in rankings through the years were compared. Subcategories (pedestrian, bicycle, motorcycle and automobile) of motor vehicle traffic related injuries were analyzed to decompose the causes of motor vehicle traffic related injury. 

Results: The ranking of motor vehicle traffic-related mortality rates remain unchanged across the 6 clusters during the period of 2006 to 2011. The 6-year average mortality rate (per 100,000 people) in each cluster is 26.5 in aging population towns, 25.8 in agriculture and remote towns, 25.2 in general towns, 17.2 in boom towns, 10.4 in medium urbanization towns and 7.1 in high urbanization towns. A decreasing trend was observed and the gap between the highest and the lowest was closing.  

Conclusion: The mortality rates were consistently lower in townships of high and medium urbanization level and consistently higher in townships of aging population.

Learning Areas:

Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Evaluate the geographic disparities in mortality rates of motor vehicle traffic-related injuries. Identify high risk area of mortality rates of motor vehicle traffic-related injuries.

Keyword(s): Motor Vehicles, Mortality

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am one of the participants in the study and currently employed at Surveillance and Research Division, Health Promotion Administration, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taiwan.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3366.0: Motor vehicle injury and road safety