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Abstract
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BACKGROUND: Road traffic injuries account for the major pro-portion of injury and economic burden globally. However,motorcyclists are the most vulnerable group to sustain fataland non-fatal injuries. The use of helmet is one of mostacknowledged protective measure. However cost-saving abilityof helmet use is inconsistent in the literature.AimTo estimate the difference in the healthcare cost ofmotorcycle crash in those who were wearing helmet and thosewho were not wearing helmet in Karachi, Pakistan.
METHODologyWe conducted a cross-sectional study by usingmicro-costing method and out-of-pocket expenditure data col-lection for healthcare cost estimation in a public tertiary hos-pital of Karachi, Pakistan. We included 18 year and abovevictims of motorcycle crash both riders and pillions throughconsecutive sampling from the emergency department andgrouped them in to helmeted and non-helmeted. Cost differ-ences were compared using t-test.ResultWe recruited 323 participants, 127 (39%) were wear-ing helmet, while, 93 (60%) were not wearing helmet at thetime of crash. The helmeted group had 18% head injuries as compared to 46% in the non-helmeted. Helmeted group incurred a total healthcare cost of PKR.15855, whereas, non-helmeted victims had a median healthcare cost of PKR.91229. Furthermore, the out-of-pocket (OOP) is lower in in the helmeted group (PKR.1250) compared to the counterpart (PKR.16800).
CONCLUSION We conclude that there are substantial cost implications of not wearing helmet and the traffic and road safety authorities should make sure that all motorcycle users including riders and pillions wear helmet not for their safety but also as a cost-saving approach to reduce burden on healthcare system.
8A.002 Virtual Pre-Conference Global Injury Prevention Showcase 2021 - Abstract Book
Language: en |