Risk Factors of Fabbri et al for a Person Being Involved in a Recurrent Motor Vehicle Crash

 

Patient selection: involvement in a motor vehicle accident with treatment at an Emergency Department. This included drivers, passengers, pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists.

 

Interval for accident recurrence: 5 years

 

Parameters

(1) age

(2) gender

(3) blood alcohol concentration at the time of the accident (estimated, which assumes a decline of 20 mg/dL per hour)

(4) time of accident

 

estimated blood alcohol concentration at the time of the accident in mg/dL =

= (measured blood alcohol on admission in mg/dL) + (20 * (hours since accident))

Parameter	Finding	Points
age of the patient in years	> 32 years of age	0
	<= 32 years of age	1
gender of the patient	female	0
	male	1
estimated blood alcohol level at the time of the accident	negative	0
	positive (>= 50 mg/dL)	2
time of accident	daytime	0
	night	1

 

where:

• The relative risk for alcohol intoxication was 2-3 times that of the other risk factors. The cumulative risk for an alcohol negative subject was around 10% at 5 years vs 45% if alcohol positive.

 

total number of risk factors =

= SUM(points for all 4 parameters)

 

Interpretation:

• minimum number of risk factors: 0

• maximum number of risk factors: 4

• The more risk factors the higher the risk of being involved in a future motor vehicle accident.

 

Another factor that was associated with recurrent injury was the presence of a "dangerous mechanism of injury" which involved one or more of the following:

(1) injured person was the driver

(2) injured person ejected

(3) vehicle out of lane

(4) vehicle overtaking (implies higher speed)

(5) vehicle hit a fixed, nonmoving obstacle

 

Limitations:

• Some accidents may go unreported or may not be serious enough to warrant emergency care.

• This could be expanded by asking about a person's past history for motor vehicle accidents.