This report presents characteristics of car occupants involved in motor vehicle accidents in the province of Quebec in 1987 who sustained at least a neck injury. It examines also the duration and the cost of indemnization to these victims. The study is based on data obtained from the government insurance board, La Société de l'Assurance Automobile du Québec (SAAQ) which covers all the victims of traffic accidents in the Province of Quebec. The sample used includes 4,328 victims who had submitted a claim for compensation and who had sustained at least one cervical injury. Frequency, nature and severity of the neck injuries were examined as a function of occupant and accident parameters. Results show that 28.7% of injured car occupants sustained a neck injury. Neck strain is the most frequent neck injury (92%). Many neck injured persons were involved in non-head impact (86%). Women have a 40% higher risk of sustaining a neck injury than men. However, men register more severe neck injuries than women. The authors' statistical analysis also include the cost for medical treatment not covered by the provincial hospitalization and health insurances, rehabilitation, compensation for pain, anatomico-physiological deficits and time lost from work (income replacement). (A) Also published by the University de Montréal, Centre de Recherche sur les Transports C.R.T., 1993, CRT Publication 885 (see IRRD 853975).
Abstract