Motor vehicle collisions (MVCs) are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality throughout the world accounting for 1.35 million deaths and between 20 and
50 million injuries worldwide per annum. To our knowledge, no studies have considered the differences in injury patterns, entrapment status and morbidity and mortality outcomes between female and male patients. Failure to collect and analyse sex- disaggregated data is a common concern in research.
What We Did
We examined data from the Trauma Audit and Research Network (TARN) registry to explore sex differences in entrapment, injuries and outcomes. We explored the relationship between age, sex and trapped status using multivariate logistical regression.
We considered the outcomes of 450,357 patients injured in England between 2012 and 2019. We focused on 70,027 patients injured in motor vehicle collisions, with 18,175 (26%) female and 51,852 (74%) male patients. We analysed the injuries and outcomes of males and females by trapped status and reported these.
What We Found
Female patients were more frequently trapped than male patients. Female patients were trapped 15.8% of the time compared to male patients being trapped 9.4% of the time. Trapped male patients more frequently suffered head, face, chest and limb injuries, whilst female patients had more injuries to the pelvis and spine. Following adjustment for the interaction between age and sex, injury severity score, Glasgow Coma Scale and the Charlson Comorbidity Index, no difference in mortality was found between female and male patients.
What This Means
There are significant differences between female and male patients in the frequency at which patients are trapped and the injuries these patients sustain. This sex- disaggregated data may help vehicle manufacturers, road safety organisations and emergency services to tailor responses with the aim of equitable outcomes by targeting equal performance of safety measures and reducing excessive risk to one sex or gender.
- Males and females have different injuries
- Women are much more likely to be trapped
- Extrication techniques are like to be equally applicable to male and female patients
Authors
Tim Nutbeam, Lauren Weekes, Shirin Heidari, Rob Fenwick, Omar Bouamra, Jason Smith and Willem Stassen