Evaluating Traumatic Brain Injury Outcomes in Road Traffic Crashes

TL;DR

This study analyzes factors influencing traumatic brain injury outcomes from road traffic crashes, highlighting key demographic, environmental, and behavioral contributors to surgical and fatal results, with implications for improving road safety.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of a random parameters multinomial logit model to identify key factors affecting TBI outcomes in RTCs, including interaction effects.

Findings

Male patients are more likely to experience surgical or fatal outcomes.

Nighttime crashes on rural roads significantly increase fatality risk.

Interactions between low visibility and bus involvement, and overtaking and wet pavements, heighten fatal outcomes.

Abstract

Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs) resulting from Road Traffic Crashes (RTCs) can have fatal and disabling effects on patients. In this study, we evaluated the TBIs outcomes of patients involved in RTCs and identify key contributing factors affecting these outcomes. Data on 207 patients recorded by physicians at a tertiary hospital in Bangladesh was collected. A random parameters multinomial logit model with heterogeneity in the means was utilized to assess patients outcomes in three categories: Non-surgical, Surgical, and Fatal. From the random parameters, the study found that male patients (55.48%) are more likely to experience surgical and fatal outcomes. Male motorcycle users have a higher probability of experiencing fatal consequences. Additionally, 60.94% of incidents on rural roads result in surgeries and fatalities, with nighttime crashes on these roads significantly increasing the likelihood of fatal outcomes. Key factors impacting the likelihood of TBIs outcomes include older age, pedestrian involvement, bus and truck crashes, speeding, wet pavements, overtaking, low visibility, and weekday crashes. The study identified two significant interaction variables that increase the probability of fatal outcomes from TBIs: the interactions between low visibility and bus involvement, and between overtaking and wet pavements. While these factors individually had a higher probability of leading to both surgical and fatal outcomes, together these factors increase the risks to fatalities. Overall, our findings provide more detailed insights about the impact of TBIs outcomes resulting from RTCs and emphasize the need to develop more effective measures to improve road safety and patient outcomes.