Traffic accidents: characterization accidents and lesions in an urban center of southern Brazil

Abstract

Casualties treated in a Emergency Hospital of Porto Alegre, Brazil, during the year 1988, for injuries received as a result of traffic accidents, are described by means of a retrospective study of the data provided by the Documentation and Statistics Sector of the hospital (n=6.099). The results, similar to those described in the literature, dreaw special attention to the predominance of the male sex (69.2%), to the concentration of accidents involving individuals of between 20 and 39 years of age, inclusive, (52%) and to the frequency which the head is injured (49.6%) of the pacients. Severe injuries such as bruises and fractures were found, respectively, in 61.5% and 24.2% of the patients. The data reveal, furthear, the large number and the seriousness of the injuries caused by accidents involving pedestrians which accounted for 32.7% of the total number of attendances related to traffic accidents, 57.2% of hospital internments; 54.6% of the victims of this kind of accident were under 9 years of age and 42.8% were over 60.