Reduction of motorcycle-related deaths over 15 years in a developing country

BACKGROUND: There have been major improvements in the trauma system and injury prevention in Al-Ain City. We aimed to study the impact of these changes on the incidence, pattern, injury severity, and outcome of hospitalized motorcycle-related injured patients in Al-Ain City, United Arab Emirates. METHODS: This is a retrospective analysis of two separate periods of prospectively collected data which were retrieved from Al-Ain Hospital Trauma Registry (March 2003 to March 2006 compared with January 2014 to December 2017). All motorcycle-injured patients who were admitted to Al-Ain Hospital for more than 24 h or died in the Emergency Department or after hospitalization were studied. RESULTS: The incidence of motorcycle injuries dropped by 37.1% over the studied period. The location of injury was significantly different between the two periods (p = 0.02, Fisher's exact test), with fewer injuries occurring at streets/highways in the second period (69.1% compared with 85.3%). The anatomical injury severity of the head significantly increased over time (p = 0.03), while GCS on arrival significantly improved (p < 0.0001), indicating improvements in both prehospital and in-hospital trauma care. The mortality of the patients significantly decreased (0% compared with 6%, p = 0.002, Fisher's exact test). CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of motorcycle injuries in our city dropped by almost 40% over the last 15 years. There was a significant reduction in the mortality of hospitalized motorcycle-injured patients despite increased anatomical severity of the head injuries. This is attributed to improvements in the trauma care system, including injury prevention, and both prehospital and in-hospital trauma care.