This paper performs an analysis of 174,160 patients admitted to 165 trauma centres in the United States. The aim is to compare mortality of those injured by vehicular mechanisms with non-vehicular causes. Vehicular injuries (49.7%) were divided into those to vehicle occupants (VO, 36.4%), pedestrians (PED, 7.2%) and motorcyclists (MC, 6%). Non-vehicular injuries were subdivided into: (1) penetrating causes, namely: gunshot (8.7%), stabbings (8%) and other (1.8%); and (2) blunt causes such as falls (18.4%), and assaults (13.2%). Each injury was categorized: (i) by severity, according to the 1985 version of the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS), and (ii) by the presence of injury to the skull or brain (head injuries=HI). Of the 59,713 HI, vehicular causes produced more head injuries (66.6%) than all other causes, despite the preponderance of non-vehicular injuries in the overall series (50.3%). For each of the vehicular injuries, HI mortality was higher than if no head injury (NHI) occurred. This was also true for each AIS level. The greatest "vehicular mortality harm" in immediate survivors of crashes is caused by VO with HI of AIS=3-6 who also have extracranial injuries of AIS=3 severity. This group has three times the importance of any PED group and almost six times the importance of any MC group. See also C 1124 (In: C 1103 S) (IRRD 857308).
Abstract