Community Medicine Abstracts - College of Medicine and Health ...

Project No. 155 (A-1999/0)Effectiveness of Legislation of Seat Belt on RTAStudent Authors: Amal Haylan, Sheikha AhmedFaculty Supervisors: Dr. A. Bener, Dr. G. NicolAbstract:Objective To evaluate the type of injury resulted from RTAs in UAE and to evaluate theseverity of injury before (in 1998) and after (in1999) the legislation of seat belt.Methods A descriptive retrospective study was conducted in Al Ain city among theAccident and Emergency Department (AED) records of car occupants who were injuredin RTAs in Al Ain Hospital. The sample size was n=551 patients and the data werecollected by the emergency form used in Al Ain Hospital as the abstract form.Results This study presents a sample of 551 who were injured as a result of RTA in AlAin city and attended the AED of Al Ain Hospital for the two periods (January 1998-June 1998) and (January 1999- June 1999). 294 cases (53.4%) in 1998 and 257cases (46.6%) in 1999.Males were most affected (78.58%). The main age group wasbetween 20-30 years (32.36%) , with time of accident between 6 PM –12 midnight.Severity of the injury of the following body region decreases with the legislation ofseat belt law: Head and neck (25.2%) in 1998 declined to (23.3%)in 1999. Face(5.8%) in 1998 declined to (5.1%) in 1999 Body surface (66.0%) in 1998 declined to(57.2%) in 1999Conclusion This descriptive study shows that seat belt legislation decreases theseverity of injuries of car occupants resulted from RTA.