Citation

DiMaggio C, Durkin MS, Richardson LD. Int. J. Inj. Control Safe. Promot. 2006; 13(2): 95-99.

Affiliation

Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, 722 West 168 Street, New York, NY, 10032, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/17457300500310038

PMID

16707345

Abstract

The hypothesis that relative to cars, light trucks and vans (including sports utility vehicles) are more likely to result in fatal pediatric pedestrian injury was investigated. It was further hypothesized that this increased risk is a result of head injuries. The study sample consisted of 18 117 police records of motor vehicles involved in crashes in which one or more pedestrians aged 5 to 19 years old was injured or killed. Frequencies and case fatality ratios for each vehicle body type were calculated. A logistic regression analysis was conducted, with light truck or van vs. car as the exposure variable and fatal/non-fatal pedestrian injury as the outcome variable. After controlling for driver age, driver gender, vehicle weight, road surface condition and presence of head injury, 5 to 19 year-olds struck by light trucks or vans were more than twice as likely to die than those struck by cars (odds ratio (OR) 2.3; 95% CI 1.4, 3.9). For the 5 to 9 year-old age group, light trucks and vans were four times as likely to be associated with fatal injury (OR 4.2; 95% CI 1.9, 9.5). There was an association between head injury and light trucks and vans (OR 1.2; 95% CI 1.1, 1.3). It was concluded that vehicle body type characteristics play an important role in pediatric pedestrian injury severity and may offer engineering-based opportunities for injury control.

Language: en