Patterns of road traffic accident, nature of related injuries, and post-crash outcome determinants in western Ethiopia - a hospital based study

INTRODUCTION: Ethiopia is one of the countries with the worst road traffic accident records in the world and it ranks second among east African countries. There have not been sufficient studies that mainly reflect the post-crash determinants of deaths and this study was therefore done to assess the overall nature of injuries and the post-crash outcome determinants of road the traffic accident in western part of Ethiopia. METHODS: This was a hospital-based prospective study conducted from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2019 using an area sampling technique. Five administrative zones in west Ethiopia were initially selected as a geographical cluster; out of which, four zones were randomly selected. Then, a total of four hospitals were conveniently selected. Finally, 327 people injured in road traffic accidents and brought to the selected hospitals were consecutively included. RESULTS: Overall, 189 (66.1%) of the casualties have sustained multiple injuries and 65 (24.0%) of them have got severe injuries. About 38.8% and 13.6% have respectively died and discharged with permanent disabilities. A longer distance from receiving hospital (AOR: 1.4, 95% CI [0.48–4.08]), singleness in the number of injury (AOR: 4.3, 95% CI [2.08–9.8]), and lack of receiving pre-hospital care (AOR: 4.072, 95% CI [1.197–13.85]) had statistical associations with increased number of death. On the other hand, injured people who were taken to the hospitals by police officers (AOR: 0.371, 95% CI [0.160–0.860]) than emergency medical technicians and those who were transported by other vehicles (AOR: 2. 58, 95% CI [1.21–5.52]) than ambulance have ironically survived more. CONCLUSION: This study concludes that the road traffic accidents related deaths occur largely due to the seriousness of injuries and are exacerbated by lack of adequate pre-hospital emergency care services, costing the lives of many Ethiopians.