Table 1. Annual trends of epidemiological characteristics of enrolled traffic collision victims.
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | P value | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Driver numbers | 6,460 | 8,104 | 7,713 | 8,073 | 7,161 | <0.001 a | |||||
| Demographics | |||||||||||
| Age b | 40 (31–50) | 40 (31–51) | 41 (31–52) | 42 (32–53) | 43 (33–54) | <0.001 b | |||||
| Age ≥ 65 years | 323 (5.0%) | 438 (5.4%) | 455 (5.9%) | 544 (6.7%) | 601 (8.4%) | <0.001 c | |||||
| Sex, male | 4,210 (65.2%) | 5,382 (66.4%) | 5,013 (65.0%) | 5,295 (65.6%) | 4,644 (64.9%) | 0.358 c | |||||
| Season of injury | |||||||||||
| Spring | 1,428 (22.1%) | 1,973 (24.3%) | 1,790 (23.2%) | 1,864 (23.1%) | 1,793 (25.0%) | 0.008 c | |||||
| Summer | 1,625 (25.2%) | 1,881 (23.2%) | 1,952 (25.3%) | 2,000 (24.8%) | 1,666 (23.3%) | 0.245 c | |||||
| Autumn | 1,840 (28.5%) | 2,056 (25.4%) | 2,069 (26.8%) | 2,182 (27.0%) | 2,087 (29.1%) | 0.038 c | |||||
| Winter | 1,567 (24.3%) | 2,194 (27.1%) | 1,902 (24.7%) | 2,027 (25.1%) | 1,615 (22.6%) | <0.001 c | |||||
| Time of injury | |||||||||||
| Morning | 1,627 (25.2%) | 2,043 (25.2%) | 1,911 (24.8%) | 2,002 (24.8%) | 1,785 (24.9%) | 0.558 c | |||||
| Afternoon | 1,951 (30.2%) | 2,457 (30.3%) | 2,539 (32.9%) | 2,554 (31.6%) | 2,343 (32.7%) | <0.001 c | |||||
| Night | 1,788 (27.7%) | 2,209 (27.3%) | 2,118 (27.5%) | 2,242 (27.8%) | 1,992 (27.8%) | 0.597 c | |||||
| Dawn | 1,076 (16.7%) | 1,378 (17.0%) | 1,133 (14.7%) | 1,263 (15.6%) | 1,028 (14.4%) | <0.001 c | |||||
| Unknown | 18 (0.3%) | 17 (0.2%) | 12 (0.2%) | 12 (0.1%) | 13 (0.2%) | 0.130 c | |||||
| Use of alcohol | |||||||||||
| Yes | 352 (5.4%) | 439 (5.4%) | 361 (4.7%) | 354 (4.4%) | 315 (4.4%) | <0.001 c | |||||
| No | 5,882 (91.1%) | 7,244 (89.4%) | 6,828 (88.5%) | 7,215 (89.4%) | 6,225 (86.9%) | <0.001 c | |||||
| Unknown | 226 (3.5%) | 421 (5.2%) | 524 (6.8%) | 504 (6.2%) | 621 (8.7%) | <0.001 c | |||||
| Seat belt use | <0.001 c | ||||||||||
| Yes | 5,537 (85.7%) | 6,691 (82.6%) | 6,442 (83.5%) | 6,456 (80.0%) | 5,920 (82.7%) | ||||||
| No | 923 (14.3%) | 1,413 (17.4%) | 1,271 (16.5%) | 1,617 (20.0%) | 1,241 (17.3%) | ||||||
| Work-related injury | 912 (14.1%) | 860 (10.6%) | 892 (11.6%) | 949 (11.8%) | 855 (11.9%) | 0.029 c | |||||
| Types of vehicle | |||||||||||
| Vehicles with up to 10 seats | 6,172 (95.5%) | 7,696 (95.0%) | 7,309 (94.8%) | 7,641 (94.6%) | 6,747 (94.2%) | 0.001 c | |||||
| Vehicles with 11–19 seats | 108 (1.7%) | 200 (2.5%) | 199 (2.6%) | 165 (2.0%) | 118 (1.6%) | 0.520 c | |||||
| Vehicles with 20 or more seats | 180 (2.8%) | 208 (2.6%) | 205 (2.7%) | 267 (3.3%) | 296 (4.1%) | <0.001 c | |||||
| Types of collision | <0.001 c | ||||||||||
| Multi-vehicle collision | 5,088 (78.8%) | 6,353 (78.4%) | 6,074 (78.8%) | 6,428 (79.6%) | 5,804 (81.1%) | ||||||
| Single-vehicle collision | 1,372 (21.2%) | 1,751 (21.6%) | 1,639 (21.2%) | 1,645 (20.4%) | 1,357 (18.9%) | ||||||
| ED disposition | |||||||||||
| Discharge | 5,022 (77.7%) | 6,296 (77.7%) | 6,073 (78.7%) | 6,338 (78.5%) | 5,695 (79.5%) | 0.004 c | |||||
| Transfer | 390 (6.0%) | 468 (5.8%) | 348 (4.5%) | 418 (5.2%) | 310 (4.3%) | <0.001 c | |||||
| Admission | 1,002 (15.5%) | 1,282 (15.8%) | 1,242 (16.1%) | 1,263 (15.6%) | 1,110 (15.5%) | 0.848 c | |||||
| Death | 42 (0.7%) | 50 (0.6%) | 44 (0.6%) | 40 (0.5%) | 35 (0.5%) | 0.111 c | |||||
| Unknown | 4 (0.1%) | 8 (0.1%) | 6 (0.1%) | 14 (0.2%) | 11 (0.2%) | 0.040 c | |||||
| Hospital LOS (minute) b | 139 (78–374) | 134 (73–362) | 125 (66–322) | 127 (65–324) | 115 (61–285) | <0.001 b | |||||
| Hospital LOS, discharged from ED (minute) b | 107 (68–192) | 102 (65–184) | 96 (58–171) | 96 (58–179) | 90 (55–162) | <0.001 b | |||||
| Hospital LOS, admitted from ED (minute) b | 17,254 (6,345–35,929) | 15,928 (7,107–30,214) | 14,844 (6,597–28,653) | 12,596 (3,926–26,085) | 12,041 (3,035–25,607) | <0.001 b | |||||
| Hospital death | 64 (1.0%) | 71 (0.9%) | 61 (0.8%) | 69 (0.9%) | 37 (0.5%) | 0.005 c | |||||
| Older driver | 10 (3.1%) | 9 (2.1%) | 10 (2.2%) | 7 (1.3%) | 7 (1.2%) | 0.287 c | |||||
| Younger driver | 54 (0.9%) | 62 (0.8%) | 51 (0.7%) | 62 (0.8%) | 30 (0.5%) | 0.009 c | |||||
ED: emergency department; LOS: length of stay
a P value is the test result of the linear trend using simple Poisson regression.
b Data are represented as median and interquartile ranges. P value is the test result of the linear trend using simple linear regression.
c P value is the test result of the linear trend using Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel’s row means score difference test.