PMID- 22792332
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20130402
LR  - 20221017
IS  - 1932-6203 (Electronic)
IS  - 1932-6203 (Linking)
VI  - 7
IP  - 7
DP  - 2012
TI  - A study of a decade of road traffic accidents in Benghazi-Libya: 2001 to 2010.
PG  - e40454
LID - 10.1371/journal.pone.0040454 [doi]
LID - e40454
AB  - This paper aims to observe and to study the trends of road traffic accidents 
      (RTA's) for the past ten years in Benghazi-Libya. A retrospective analysis was 
      done using the patient records of Al-Jalaa hospital (the main trauma center in 
      Benghazi) from over 21,753 RTA cases. The annual data were compared to each other 
      and changes of trends were observed. RTA's represented an increasing percentage 
      of Al-Jalaa's case load across the years. Around 41% of these cases needed to 
      undergo surgery. The younger age group (20-29 years of age) formed the majority 
      of cases while there was a trend towards an increasing average age of patients 
      involved in an accident. Male patients were found to be younger than their female 
      counterparts. Males comprised 81.5% while females formed 18.5% of RTA patients. 
      In terms of inpatient duration, most patients stayed in the hospital for less 
      than 1 week. Vehicle occupants (drivers and passengers) were admitted more often 
      than pedestrians. There was a trend across the years towards an increased 
      involvement of vehicle occupants and decrease in the proportion of pedestrians 
      that had to be hospitalized. Additionally, there was a decrease in the fatalities 
      of pedestrians. Overall, most RTA patients were discharged and made to follow-up 
      in outpatient clinics however there was a startling trend towards increased LAMA 
      and absconded patients. There were both encouraging findings as well as points 
      that needed further emphasis and action. Public education, life support training 
      and diversification of transport (apart from the use of the roads) should be 
      looked into, as possible means of improving the current situation.
FAU - Bodalal, Zuhir
AU  - Bodalal Z
AD  - Faculty of Medicine, Libyan International Medical University, Benghazi, Libya. 
      zuhir.bodalal@limu.edu.ly
FAU - Bendardaf, Riyad
AU  - Bendardaf R
FAU - Ambarek, Mohammed
AU  - Ambarek M
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20120711
PL  - United States
TA  - PLoS One
JT  - PloS one
JID - 101285081
SB  - IM
MH  - Accidents, Traffic/economics/*mortality
MH  - Adolescent
MH  - Adult
MH  - Aged
MH  - Aged, 80 and over
MH  - Child
MH  - Child, Preschool
MH  - Female
MH  - Hospitalization/economics/statistics & numerical data
MH  - Humans
MH  - Infant
MH  - Length of Stay/economics/statistics & numerical data
MH  - Libya/epidemiology
MH  - Male
MH  - Middle Aged
MH  - Retrospective Studies
MH  - Treatment Refusal/statistics & numerical data
MH  - Young Adult
PMC - PMC3394723
COIS- Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
EDAT- 2012/07/14 06:00
MHDA- 2013/04/03 06:00
PMCR- 2012/07/11
CRDT- 2012/07/14 06:00
PHST- 2012/03/27 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2012/06/07 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2012/07/14 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2012/07/14 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2013/04/03 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2012/07/11 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - PONE-D-12-08664 [pii]
AID - 10.1371/journal.pone.0040454 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - PLoS One. 2012;7(7):e40454. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0040454. Epub 2012 Jul 11.