Improving the Quality of Post-Crash Care: Synthesis of Existing Systematic Reviews

Road traffic deaths and injuries are a major health problem worldwide with around 1.35 million road deaths occurring globally each year [1]. The issue disproportionally effects citizens in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where the road traffic death rates are up to three times higher than those in high-income countries (HICs) [1]. Low-income countries (LICs) have an average road traffic death rate of 27.5 deaths per 100,000 population, compared to HICs which have an average road traffic death rate of 8.3 deaths per 100,000 population [1].
These death rates are even more alarming when considering the number of motor vehicles present in LICs. LICs only have 1% of the world’s motor vehicles but represent 13% of global road traffic deaths, whereas HICs have 40% of the world’s motor vehicles but only represent 7% of global road traffic deaths.
Notwithstanding a range of data limitations, the review identified that implementation of changes at the broader trauma system level are associated with changes to trauma outcomes. Across the studies focused on measuring broader improvements to trauma system, estimated benefits on reducing mortality were generally consistent despite the variation in specific changes to the trauma system between studies. Meta-analyses estimated a 15% mortality reduction for LMICs and 18% reduction for HICs, both being statistically significant.