Analysis of road traffic mortality in Iran.

The main objective of this study is to analyze demographic, socioeconomic and circumstantial profiles of the victims of road traffic crashes in Iran (a country with very high road traffic mortality) during March 21 to November 21 of 2009. The database consists of 16,556 victims. The descriptive analysis indicates that the vast majority of victims (79%) were males, over 44% of them were of younger age (15-34 years), and 89% of victims had educational levels up to high school. The largest proportion of victims belonged to drivers (41%), followed by passengers (34.5%) and pedestrians (23%). Head injury figured as the main reason of death (over 61% of all deaths), followed by multiple fractures (25%). And over 2/3 of the crashes happened in out-of-town areas. Bivariate analysis of the data shows statistically significant relationships between victims' status with each of the covariates gender, age and education. Also, statistically significant associations are observed between the place of death and each of the covariates age, status, the reason of death and the location of the crash. Multinomial logistic regression models were employed to estimate the odds ratios for different categories of victim's status and place of death as affected by gender, age, education and other circumstantial factors. Being male, and younger than 60 increases the likelihood of death due to head injury and death at the scene of crash or on the way to hospital. Higher levels of education also increase the likelihood of death as a driver of passenger compared to pedestrians. A secondary objective of the study is to estimate the economic cost of the road traffic fatality for the period of study. The estimated traffic accident costs amounted to US$17 billion or 7% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). Dealing with road traffic safety should become a high priority policy in Iran to prevent such devastating results. --Leaves ii-iii.