Road Traffic Accidents Presenting to the Emergency Department of a Tertiary Care Center: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

INTRODUCTION: Road Traffic Accidents have emerged as the leading cause of mortality and morbidity globally. The burden of road traffic accidents has escalated gradually in Nepal and is a common cause of injury and trauma. The study aims to identify the prevalence of road traffic accidents in the emergency department. METHODS: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among hospital records of cases admitted to the emergency department of tertiary care hospital between March to August, 2020. Ethical approval was taken from the ethical review board of College of Medical Sciences (reference number: 2020-035). Information was collected through pro-forma and hospital records. Convenience sampling was done. The data were entered in the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 24 and analysed using descriptive statistics. Point estimate at 95% Confidence Interval was calculated along with frequency and proportion for binary data. RESULTS: Among 4050 cases presenting to the emergency department, 228 (5.6%) (4.9-6.3 at 95% Confidence Interval) cases of road traffic accidents were seen. The most common injuries involved were soft tissue injury 90 (39.47%) and head injury 77 (33.77%). Most patients admitted to the hospital were male 178 (78.07%) aged 21 to 30 years 79 (41.38%). The vehicles mostly involved in the accidents were motorized two-wheelers 120 (50.6%) and pedestrians 51 (22.4%). CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of road traffic accidents was similar to the findings from similar studies. Strengthening the capacities of the pre-hospital care and emergency department is necessary along with preventive intervention in public to reduce such health burden.