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Abstract
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OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to analyze the factors associated with the occurrence of non-fatal traffic accidents regarding age.
METHODS: A retrospective, transversal and analytical study was carried out in the municipality of Maringá, Paraná, Brazil based on data from Boletins de Ocorrência de Acidente de Trânsito ("Police Occurrence Bulletins") (BOATs). Following probability sampling, the sociodemographic aspects, logistics, environmental conditions and time of occurrence of 418 cases of accidents. The age of the drivers victims was considered to be the dependent variable. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, bivariate, multivariate and variance analysis, considering a confidence interval of 95% and a significance level of 5% (p<0.05).
RESULTS: It revealed that young people (15-29 years) were twice as likely to be hospitalized due to severe injuries. Young motorcyclists had a 2.5 times greater chance of suffering accidents (p = <0.001), while the use of other vehicles such as cars, bicycles, buses and trucks represented a protective factor for this group (p = <0.05). Multiple logistic regression revealed that the main predictors for the occurrence of accidents were being single, having over eight years of education, having had a driver's license for less than three years, road with low luminosity and driving at night.
CONCLUSIONS: The demographic, environmental and logistical factors were associated with morbidity due to traffic accident, being young people, the most vulnerable group. These results challenge the society and their managers to create more effective strategies able to minimize this serious public health problem.
Language: en |