Introduction: Motor vehicular accidents (MVA) are the leading cause of death among people under 40 years of age. Despite improvement in car safety and driver awareness of the use of safety devices, fatalities and severe injuries continue to occur.
Material and methods: From 1997 to 2004, 13,678 patients after MVA were admitted to our institution. Out of this cohort, 584 (4.3%) patients suffered blunt major trauma defined as Injury Severity Score (ISS) >or=16 and at least one life-threatening injury in one body region. Preclinical data were recorded in 458 patients matching the inclusion criteria. The circumstances of the trauma scene such as weather conditions were analysed as well as technical crash data such as direction of impact, security devices used and type and severity of automobile damage. In a retrospective trial, the influence of preclinical variables on the injury pattern and on injury severity was investigated.
Results: 314 (68.6%) patients were male and 144 (31.4%) female. Injury severity (p=0.015) and rate of multiple injuries (p=0.012) were higher in patients after side-impact crashes. If automobiles with SIPS were used, injury severity was significantly reduced in case of side-impact crashes (p=0.003). Patients after frontal impact crashes had a higher rate of severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) compared to the overall cohort (p=0.014). Patients suffering blunt aortic (n=29) dissection were involved in frontal crashes with seat belt use (p<0.001). If patients were entrapped, injury severity (p=0.021) and rate of multiple injuries (p=0.018) were significantly higher. Rear-end collisions with trucks without rear protection led to higher mortality rates (p=0.011).
Conclusion: According to our data significant association between technical crash data and injury pattern and injury severity can be assumed. In case of high speed MVA in rural areas the trauma mechanism and the circumstances (i.e., impact direction, automobile deformation) should be considered to identify patients at high risk of severe blunt trauma and multiple injuries.