Abstract

Background: Road traffic accidents (RTA) are the leading cause of unnatural deaths and a major burden in many African countries including Ethiopia. RTA is extremely common among children and the injuries suffered by those involved can differ greatly from minor to fatal injuries. Even though child trauma is a problem in Ethiopia, no adequate study has been conducted to determine the prevalence and outcome of RTA in children to support the formulation of effective solutions to improve road safety in children.
Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the circumstances, prevalence and outcomes of RTA among children in Agaro general hospital, Southwest Ethiopia.
Design: Hospital-based retrospective study design.
Setting: Agaro general hospital, southwest Ethiopia.
Participants Total 405 injured children visited the emergency department of Agaro general hospital between 1/ 1/2018 and 30/8/2021. Data were collected from 1/9/2021 to 23/10/2021 from children medical charts using a structured checklist, then entered Epi-data version 4.4.2.1 for cleaning, analyzed using SPSS version 24. Tables, charts, and texts were used to report the results.
Primary outcome: Circumstances, prevalence and outcomes of RTA on children
Result: The overall of RTA in all injury cases was found to be 24.2 % (95% CI: 20.26-28.63). Males were more likely to be victims than females. Most of the children affected were in the age category of 13-18years. The majority (67.35 %) recovered from their injury after they receive care at the emergency department. The majority of accidents have occurred around streets and more than half are caused by the involvement of bicycles and motorcycles.
Conclusion and recommendation: The prevalence of RTA among children was found to be high and continued as a public health problem; therefore, education targeting both children and the wider community, enforcement of penalties, and other effective programs should be implemented to minimize the problem

Keywords:Road traffic accidents; Prevalence; Outcome; Southwest Ethiopia

Abbreviations and Acronyms:FMOH: Federal Ministry of health; LMICs: Low-and-Middle-Income Countries; RTAs: Road Traffic Accidents; PTSD: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder; SPSS: Statistical Package for Social Science; WHO: World Health Organization