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Epidemiology of non-fatal US emergency room visits for road crashes involving pedestrians in wheelchairs
  1. John D Kraemer
  1. Correspondence to Professor John D Kraemer, Department of Health Systems Administration, O'Neill Institute for National & Global Health Law, Georgetown University, 3700 Reservoir Road, NW, 231 St Mary's Hall, Washington, DC 20007, USA; jdk32{at}georgetown.edu

Abstract

This study aims to quantify and describe the risk of non-fatal pedestrian injury among persons who use wheelchairs in the US. Cases of pedestrian injury between 2002 and 2010 among persons using wheelchairs were identified in the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System to generate national injury estimates. Between 2002 and 2010, an estimated 9348 (95% CI 4912 to 13 784) people were treated in emergency departments for non-fatal pedestrian injuries sustained while using wheelchairs. Using wheelchair-use denominators calculated from the Survey of Income and Program Participation, this equates to an incidence rate of 31.3 (95% CI 16.4 to 46.1) per 100 000 person-years. Injury risk was 3.5 times higher for men than women (p<0.001). Contusions, abrasions, and lacerations (42.7%) and fractures (16.4%) were most common. The head and neck (24.7%) and lower extremities (28.4%) were most often injured. A fifth (21.4%) of injuries required hospitalisation, and 89.2% occurred in traffic on public roadways.

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