engleski

Epidemiology of road traffic mortality trends in Croatia

INTRODUCTION: Road traffic accidents are one of the leading death causes in population worldwide and also represent great burden of disease due to premature death as well as invalidity. OBJECTIVES: The objective is to analyse road traffic mortality trends in Croatia, compare mortality according to age and gender and compare them to other countries. METHODS: We used data on standardized mortality rates from WHO Health for all database and data from Ministry of internal affair published in Buletin on road security. RESULTS: The mortality of deaths caused by road traffic accidents in Croatia is 9.14/100 000 in 2013. and in past decade showed continuous slight drop. In comparison to EU standards, Croatia shows significantly higher rates. When divided by age, the highest mortality can be seen in two groups: 15-29 and 70+ years. According to Ministry of internal affairs, in 2014 from 308 deaths in traf fic, 249 were caused by drivers. Between them, 62 of drivers were under influence of alcohol and 62 of them were under age of 31. The males have four times higher incidence than females, what can be connected by risky male behaviour due to testosterone and cultural influence. CONCLUSION: It is our opinion that the mortality rates in road traffic accidents decreased due to implementation of numerous laws directed towards road safety, young drivers and driving under the alcohol influence of other substances. According to other countries experience, this trend could be continued with better education and involvement of not only politics but also media, schools and changes in prehospital and hospital emergency health care (trauma system).

epidemiology, road traffic accidents, mortality trends

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