Epidemiological Survey of Injuries due to Traffic Accidents in Emergency Department at Gorgan 5Azar Hospital

Background and purpose: The frequency of traffic accidents is in a critical situation in Iran. This epidemiologic survey aimed at evaluating traffic accident injuries in emergency department at Gorgan 5Azar Hospital. Materials and methods: In this retrospective, cross-sectional descriptive study, the population included all patients who were admitted to the emergency department at Gorgan 5Azar Hospital (The Trauma Center in Golestan Province), 2019-2020 due to road accidents. Data were recorded in a checklist and analyzed in SPSS V20. Results: There were 1042 people that injured by road accidents with the mean age of 29.7±16.01 years. The patients were 80.1% men. Most of the accidents occurred during the day (63.2%) at summer (29.7%) in August (10.7%). Road accidents were more frequent in rural roads (63.1%) and among vehicle drivers (63.1%) and mainly motorcycle drivers (47.4%). Out of all cases with road injuries 626 (60.1%) fully recovered and 12 cases (1.2%) deceased. Conclusion: In this study, accidents were more frequent in suburban roads, especially rural roads, in men and young people. Traffic accidents are among the social issues that could be prevented. More attention should be paid to safety and compliance with standards in the construction of roads, especially in villages, as well as education of the youth population.