ROAD TRAFFIC INJURIES AMONG PATIENTS WHO ATTENDED THE ACCIDENT AND EMERGENCY UNIT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA MEDICAL CENTRE, KUALA LUMPUR

A retrospective cross-sectional study of injury patients who attended the accident and emergency unitwas conducted at the university of malaya medical centre. demographic data with regards to age,sex, race, occupation and the relevant data such as type of accident, type of injury sustained and alsoseverity seen during the month of january 2005 were selected retrospectively from medical record.the objectives were to review road trafþ c accidents and their severity of injuries among the patients.there were two hundred and forty-three (197 males and 46 females) patients involved: 60% malays,16% chinese, 21% indians and 3% other ethnic groups. peak accidents occurred among the 21 to 30years age group. among the type of accidents, 65.8% involved motorbike riders, 10.3% car drivers,8.6% pillion riders, 7.8% car passengers, 5.8% pedestrians and 1.6% were bicycle rider injuries.about 57.6% sustained minor injuries and 42.4% major injuries. there was no signiþ cant associationbetween outcome of road trafþ c accidents and sex, age group and race. however, there was a significantassociation between type of accidents and severity of injuries (p = 0.014). males sustained more majorinjuries and motorbike accidents were the highest among road injuries. therefore, further preventionand control with emphasis on behavioural changes, education and law enforcement may reduce thenumber of road trafþ c accidents in the future.