Pattern of Limb Injuries in Road Traffic Accident in Medico-Legal Autopsy Cases Brought to Mortuary of FMT Dept, RIMS, Imphal

Abstract

The injuries caused by road traffic accidents (RTAs) become a major public health problem worldwide and a major cause of morbidity and mortality with temporary or permanent disability. This cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the pattern of limb injuries in road traffic accidents in medico-legal autopsy cases brought to the mortuary of the Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology of a Tertiary Care Teaching Institute in Imphal. The estimated sample size is around 210. Only male cases brought for autopsy were analyzed. All the cases of road traffic accidents with limb injuries with or without injury to other parts of the body and only upper or lower limb injuries were included in our study. Data entry was done using a Windows-based statistical package for social sciences [SPSS] version 21.0 (Armonk NY: IBM Corp). To establish an association between the categorical variables with the type of injuries, the C2-test is applied, and interpretation is made accordingly. All comparisons are two-sided and the p-values of < 0.05, < 0.01, and < 0.001 are taken as the cut-off values for significance, high significance, and very high significance, respectively. From our study, the highest number of victims were observed among the age of 31 to 40 years which accounted for 27.6%; and the lowest number of victims of about 1% was observed among the age group of 0 to 10 years. The maximum number of victims were due to two-wheeler accidents which accounted for 52.4% of which 76 (69.09%) fatalities were riders. A maximum of fatalities was due to injuries to vital organs associated with shock and hemorrhages which accounts for 92.85% of cases and 7.14% of fatalities were due to injuries to the limb associated with shock and hemorrhages. The relationship of the cause of death with the type of injuries, it was observed that the cause of death has a very highly significant association with the type of injuries as evidenced by p < 0.001. Road traffic accidents are preventable. Strict traffic laws and penalties have to be imposed to curb this ever-growing menace. The result of this study enables a healthcare provider to predict fracture and site of injury. Strict enforcement of road safety regulations and improving emergency medical services may prevent untimely deaths and disabilities caused by RTAs. Awareness campaigns concerning safety rules can be targeted at high-risk groups with an emphasis on the improvement of the roads.