B. Sharma1,2, A.M. Agcon1, G.M. Agriantonis1,2, N.D. Bhatia1,2, K.D. Twelker1,2, J. Whittington1,2 1Department of Surgery, NYC Health & Hospitals/Elmhurst, Surgery, Queens, NY, USA 2Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital, Surgery, New York, NY, USA
Introduction: According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, motor vehicle accidents (MVA) are the leading cause of unintentional deaths in the United States. Therefore, we aim to examine the relationship between various factors (such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, alcohol consumption, mental health, helmet usage, and others) and injuries resulting from motor vehicle collisions.
Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients who sustained injuries in motor vehicle accidents at a Level 1 Trauma Center from 2016 to 2023.
Results: 536 patients (males as 75% and female as 25%) were presented to the emergency department (ED) . Patients were classified as "Other" (61.38%), White (15.3%), Asian (12.31%), Black (4.29%), "Unknown" (6.16%). Injury was higher in non-Hispanics (47.01%) compared to Hispanics (42.91%). The mean (SEM) age of the cohort was 42.3. 80.4% of patients had multi-body region injuries and single-body region injuries accounted for 19.6% of the cases. In most cases, the head region had the highest AIS score with a mean of 3.7, followed by the thorax region with a mean of 2.8. The mean (SEM) hospital length of stay (LOS) was 12.8, whereas ICU length was 4.8. The median Injury Severity Score (ISS) was 20 (interquartile range 14). Several patients screened positive for alcohol (18.1%), illicit substances (2.4%), and a combination of alcohol and illicit substance (1.5%) upon arrival in the ED. Overall, 10.1% had a history of alcoholism, 3.7% had psychiatric disturbances, and 3.7% had a history of substance abuse. 99.63 % had blunt trauma, and 0.37% had penetrating trauma. Mostly injured patients were pedestrians with skateboarders, roller skaters, or bladers (44.03%), followed by motorcycle crashes (MCC) (25.19%), bicycles (18.66%), motor vehicle crashes (MVC) (9.33%) and struck by motor vehicle (2.8%). Drivers (48.13%) were highly injured as compared to passengers (8.21%). 30.2% of patients didn’t use helmets, 11.0% used helmets. 162 riders without helmets had an average ISS of 20.3 and a high AIS score of ≥3 with head region. In these patients, the mean hospital LOS was 8.9 and the ICU LOS was 3.8.
Conclusion: Young adults in their 20s suffered serious MVA-associated traumatic injuries. The majority were pedestrians, followed by cyclists, motorcyclists, and car occupants. Drivers were highly injured in comparison to passengers. unhelmeted riders had severe injuries, higher hospital and ICU LOS. Number of male patients were higher as compared to female. A higher number of injured individuals belonged to the 'other' racial category, followed by White, Asian, Black, unknown, Native Hawaiian, or Another Pacific Islander. Non-Hispanic individuals showed higher injury rates compared to Hispanic individuals. Most cases involved injuries to multiple parts of the body and had blunt-type trauma. The presence of alcohol and illicit substances in the blood was strongly linked to the severity of the injuries.