Características de los accidentes de tránsito con personas lesionadas atendidas en un hospital de tercer nivel de Medellín, 1999- 2008.

Traffic accidents (TA) are a problem for global public health and may cause serious consequences on people and generate high economic costs. Causes include excessive speed, inexperience and driver distraction and lack of distance between vehicles. In Medellin, there are few studies on TA. The objective was to describe characteristics of time, place and vehicle of the 25,635 TA occurred in Medellín (1999-2008) that caused injuries that were treated at a third level hospital. It is a retrospective study of 29,676 secondary data attentions. The TA occurred more frequently in the evenings, weekends, resulting in motorcycles and in the center of the city. Overall mortality was 1.5%. Knowledge of the variables involved in the TA can facilitate the formulation of specific policies to reduce the increasing road accidents in the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]