Road traffic accident and management outcome among in Adama Hospital Medical College, Central Ethiopia

INTRODUCTION: road traffic injuries represent accounts for significant cause of morbidity and mortality around the globe, particularly in developing countries like Ethiopia. Poor pre-hospital care system and delays in hospitals before getting aids added to the woes of mortality. However, there are no study that determine the types of injury, management and outcome of road traffic accidents and associated factors in this study area. METHODS: a hospital based retrospective cross sectional study was conducted among patients attending to Adama Hospital Medical College with accidental injuries from January to December 2015. Data were retrieved from 556 patients registry selected by systematic random sampling from 11,120 injuries visiting the hospital. Data were coded, cleaned and entered to SPSS version 20 for analysis. Factors associated with the management outcome of injury related to road traffic accident were analyzed and statistical significance was declared with p < 0.05 with CI of 95%. RESULTS: out of 556 trauma victims, 304 (54.7%) were due to road traffic accidents followed by personal violence (24%) and falling accident (10.3%). The majorities (74.8%) of patients were male and urban residents (55%). Soft tissue injury was the most frequent type of injury (51%) followed by extremity fracture and dislocation (26%). Delay to come to hospital (over 24 hours), severity of injuries and management types were factors influencing management outcome of injuries related to traffic accidents. About 90.1%, 4.6% and 5.3% of the patients were discharged without any prominent disability, permanent disability and died respectively. CONCLUSION: road traffic accidents are preventable causes of morbidity and mortality. Practices of strict road safety measures and appropriate use of roadways by pedestrians should be in place, while establishing and strengthening early access to hospital and pre-hospital care to save life of injuries.