Multiple injuries are the norm in motor vehicle crashes. However, data about the types of injury which occur together are limited. This paper identifies the most frequent injury combinations found in police reported crashes in the United States in the early 1980's. The paper identifies specifically the five injuries with the highest incidence at each Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) level in the National Accident Sampling System (NASS) for 1982-1986. For each of these twenty-five injuries, the five associated injuries with the highest incidence are also identified. The results show that the five most frequent injuries comprise between one third and two third of the incidence of all the injuries at the various AIS levels. The results also show that, with a few exceptions, the incidence of the most frequent associated injuries is in the range of 5 to 10% of the incidence of the most frequent injury. These results have important implications to the estimation of the long-term consequences of motor vehicle injuries. (A)
Abstract