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Iran’s death rate from road traffic accidents highest in the worldNew IHME study shows road traffic deaths twice that of US rate, and seven times more than Germany’s May 19, 2009–Iran has the highest death rate resulting from road traffic accidents of any other country in the world, according to new research from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington. More than 30,000 people die annually in Iran from road traffic injuries, a rate of 44 people per 100,000 population in 2002, compared to 26 per 100,000 population in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, and 29 in Sub-Saharan Africa for the same year. In the United States (US), 19 people in 100,000 population died of road traffic injuries, while in Canada death due to road traffic injuries was nine per 100,000 population and in Germany it was six per 100,000. The average death rate globally for road traffic injuries in 2002 was 19 deaths per 100,000. “More Iranians die in road traffic injuries in any given year than died in the 2003 Bam earthquake and this is considered one of the worst natural disasters of recent decades,” said Dr. Mohsen Naghavi, the study’s lead author and IHME researcher. “That means one in every 10 lives lost is due to road accidents, making it one of the top three causes of death in the country and clearly a leading public health concern.” The study, published in the latest issue of Archives of Iranian Medicine showed that four times as many males (28,135) as females (6,390) died in road traffic accidents in 2005, and car occupants accounted for the greatest number of deaths (12,753), followed by pedestrians (9,804) and motorcyclists (5,398). The data also showed the rate of road accident deaths is climbing. According to the analysis, the death rate jumped from 30 deaths per 100,000 population in 2000 to 44 deaths per 100,000 population in 2006. Researchers also found that the mortality rate told only part of the story when analyzing the impact of road traffic injuries on the population and the health care system. The study also looked at non-fatal injuries as a result of a traffic accident and the impact of that injury either in reduced function, disability or premature death. When analyzing these numbers, known as DALYs – or disability-adjusted life years – the researchers found that Iranians lost 1.3 million years of healthy life due to road traffic injuries, making road traffic injuries the leading cause of DALYs in Iran in 2005. “When you look beyond the fatalities and realize the devastating and debilitating impact of road traffic injuries on the living, it is evident that serious policy changes are needed to minimize this tremendous burden which is affecting all Iranians in some shape or form,” Dr. Naghavi said. The study’s authors explore possible reasons why Iran’s death rate due to road traffic injuries is so much higher than any other country, such as the increasing number of non-standard cars and motorcycles, low gas prices, increasing preference and use of private vehicles over public transportation, and lack of enforcement of road and vehicle safety laws. “The Iranian government has started to address some of these issues through new and improved policies and hopefully, we will see a dramatic drop in deaths and injuries in the future,” Naghavi said. He added that there are important lessons here for developing countries which may soon experience similar rising death tolls due to road traffic injuries, as their population’s per capita income rises and cars become more accessible to the general public. Read the article: Naghavi M, Shahraz S, Bhalla K, Jafari N, Pourmalek F, Bartels D, Puthenpurakal JA, Motlagh ME. Adverse Health Outcomes of Road Traffic Injuries in Iran
after Rapid Motorization. Archives of Iranian Medicine, Volume 12, Number 3, May 2009: 284 – 294. (pdf*) *Software capable of displaying a PDF is required for viewing or printing this document. You may download a free copy of Adobe Reader from the Adobe website at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. |
