Foot-ankle injuries have increased in relative importance in the recent years. As a basis for future countermeasures, an epidemiological study has been undertaken in which Swedish accident data from Folksam Insurance was used. The database consists of 805 foot-ankle injuries out of 57,949 car occupant injuries reported between 1985 to 1991. The influence of crash location, seating position and occupant age is determined for the frequency and relative risk of foot-ankle injury in car crashes. The frequency and relative risk of injury in frontal impact crashes are similar and high at 76.3% and 19.4 per 1,000 injuries for all occupants respectively. Occupant age is not as significant as seating position significant as seating position and crash location: however, there are higher relative risks for rear occupants over 60 years old in oblique frontal crashes.
Abstract