oa The Epidemiology of Workrelated Road Traffic Injuries in Qatar: road user characteristics inform injury prevention programs

Introduction Injuries are the leading cause of death in Qatar, primarily those that occur at work or on the road. However, there is a paucity of data on work-related road traffic injuries [WRTIs] in Qatar. This study will describe the epidemiology of WRTIs in Qatar and make recommendations for targeted prevention programs. It was conducted as part of a larger ‘A Unified Registry for Workplace Injury Prevention in Qatar’ grant [NPRP 7-1120-3-288] funded by the Qatar Foundation and designed to initiate and implement a targeted unified workplace injury registry to inform policies and programs to reduce the health burden, in terms of deaths and disabilities, and the healthcare costs from WRI's in QatarMaterials and MethodsData, on patients with WRTIs treated at the Hamad Trauma Center [HTC] Trauma Registry from January 2015 to September 2016 was collected and analyzed according to road user type and characteristics.ResultsThere were 260 WRTIs admitted during the study period, 25.5% of all work-related injuries. The in-hospital mortality rate was 5.4 %. Motor vehicle crashes [MVCs] comprised 74% of WRTIs: 51% involved heavy vehicles [trucks or buses], 40 % were unrestrained drivers, 15% were rollovers and 10% were against fixed objects. Twenty-one percent of victims were pedestrians, 81.8% from left-hand driving countries. There were no significant differences for age, mean ISS, ICU & hospital LOS but the mortality rate for pedestrians was twice that for MVC victims [10.9% vs. 4.2%, p< 0.05].ConclusionOne-fourth of all work-related injuries in Qatar are WRTIs. Occupational safety programs should focus on increasing restraint use by drivers of heavy vehicles, driver education to prevent rollovers and pedestrian education for workers from left-hand driving countries. The significantly higher mortality rate for pedestrians merits more focused analysis in the future.