# The inequality in the burden of road traffic injuries among children aged 0-14 years in Iran: estimates from the global burden of disease study 2019

## TL;DR

This study examines how road traffic injuries affect children in Iran, finding that areas with lower human development face higher injury burdens.

## Contribution

The study reveals a strong negative correlation between the Human Development Index and road traffic injury metrics in children.

## Key findings

- Motor vehicle injuries caused the most years of life lost due to premature mortality in 2019.
- Cyclist road injuries were the leading cause of incidence and DALY in 2019.
- Road traffic mortality, DALY, and YLL showed strong negative correlations with the Human Development Index.

## Abstract

Road traffic injuries (RTIs) remain a leading cause of death and disability, posing a significant public health challenge. This study analyzes the relationship between the Human Development Index (HDI) and epidemiological patterns of RTIs among children aged 0–14 years. The primary objective is to identify and examine inequalities in the burden of these injuries as a major contributor to mortality and disability in this age group.

The current study is a descriptive-analytical study and children aged 0–14 in Iran are the target population of the study. The data regarding incidence, mortality, and years of healthy life lost due to disability (YLD), years of life lost due to premature mortality (YLL), and disability-adjusted life years (DALY) caused by road traffic injuries was collected from Global Burden of Disease 2019 (GBD) from 2010 to 2019. In order to evaluate the Pearson correlation between these indexes with the human development index (HDI), a correlation test was used. All statistical analyses were performed using Stata version 17 (StataCorp LLC).

The result also showed that in 2019 the most cause of death 3.86(3.03, 4.94) years of life lost due to premature mortality 314.9(246.9, 400.3), and DALY 317.4(249.9, 402.42) was caused by motor vehicle injuries and the most of the incidences 190.8(114.7, 285.6) and DALY 3.12(1.96, 4.56) in 2019 was caused by Cyclist Road injuries. A strong correlation has been seen among road traffic mortality (r = -0.613, p-value = 0.0002), DALY rate (r = -0.622, p-value = 0.0002), and YLL (r = -0.622, p-value = 0.0002) with HDI.

Although there has been a decrease in road traffic mortality in children, still some road safety actions must be taken to reduce road injuries specifically in provinces with lower HDI.