Evaluation of Mortality in Patients Involved In-vehicle and Out-of-vehicle Traffic Accidents

Aims: Traffic accidents are among the most common causes of mortality due to trauma. This study aimed to examine demographic and clinical characteristics that may affect mortality among patients who were involved in traffic accidents inside and outside a vehicle. Methods: In this retrospective study conducted with 2,120 patients, the patients were divided into two groups according to whether they had an in-vehicle or out-of-vehicle traffic accident. The patients in both groups were evaluated according to age, gender, personal characteristics, time of accident, Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scores, injury sites, and diagnoses. Then, factors that could be effective in mortality were compared between the two groups using statistical methods. Results: The rate of patients who had had a non-vehicle traffic accident was 19.1% (p=0.001), and 13 patients in this group had a GCS score of 3 (p=0.000). The most common injury site was the head and neck region at a rate of 24.8% (p=0.000). Mortality occurred in 3.2% and 0.9% of the patients in the out-of-vehicle and in-vehicle accident groups, respectively (p=0.001). Conclusion: Mortality was higher in out-of-vehicle traffic accidents than in in-vehicle traffic accidents. Mortality was also higher among patients with low GCS scores, regardless of whether an accident occurred inside or outside a vehicle.