D. Scantling1,2, A. Schmidt1,2, A. Saif1,2, M. Jankowski1,2 1Drexel University College of Medicine,Department Of Surgery,PHILADELPHIA, PA, USA 2Hahnemann University Hospital,Trauma And Surgical Critical Care,PHILADELPHIA, PA, USA
Introduction:
Safety restraint system use is known to improve maternal and fetal outcomes in pregnant females. Factors associated with seatbelt use in females of childbearing age are largely unstudied despite global public health endeavors to increase use. We sought to uncover risk factors for not using a restraint system in this vulnerable cohort.
Methods:
A retrospective chart review of all female patients aged 15 to 35 years presenting from 2007-2017 was performed using our institutional level one trauma database. Age, pregnancy, insurance status (commercial/private, Medicaid plan and uninsured) and race were examined in unmatched data. A matched cohort was created based upon age, race and insurance status with blinding to belt use during matching (2 non-pregnant to 1 pregnant). Differences in restraint use were then examined using Mann-Whitney U and Fisher’s exact test.
Results:
779 patients met inclusion criteria, of which 140 were pregnant. In unmatched data, there was no difference in belt use with regard to age, race or insurance type. Overall belt use was 59%. 25% of patients were uninsured and 39% utilized a Medicaid plan. Pregnant patients were statistically more likely to wear belts (71% vs 57%, p = 0.0031). In matched data, this difference was upheld (71% vs 58.4%, p = 0.017).
Conclusion:
Pregnancy may have induced increased seatbelt use and safe behavior in our population. More study is needed to confirm our findings. Overall restraint use is quite poor in our population and these patients stand to benefit from additional public health education programs.