An in-depth technical and medical investigation of facial injuries caused by car accidents |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department for Cranio Maxillofacial Surgery, Medical School Hannover, Hannover, Germany;2. Accident Research Institute, Medical School Hannover, Hannover, Germany;1. Department of Surgery, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, UAE University, Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates;2. Department of Otolaryngology, Al Ain Hospital, Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates;3. Department of Surgery, Al Ain Hospital, Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates;1. Center for Applied Biomechanics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA;2. School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA;1. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Arizona College of Medicine—Phoenix, 1320 N 10th Street, Suite A, Phoenix, AZ, 85006, United States;2. University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada;3. London Health Sciences Centre, London, Ontario, Canada;4. Western University, London, Ontario, Canada;1. University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany;2. Trauma and Orthopaedics, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom;3. Department of Orthopaedics, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom |
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| Abstract: | BackgroundMany studies have investigated the issue of facial injuries caused by car accidents, but only a few have addressed the technical and clinical aspects of such accidents and injuries in depth. The aim of this study was to identify risk factors and protective elements for facial injuries in car accidents.MethodsWe analysed the technical and clinical data of patients with facial injuries caused by car accidents over a 16-year period (2000–2016) and investigated the following factors: sitting position, sex, age, accident time, use of a seatbelt, deployment of the front airbag, direction of impact, speed at the time of collision, and occurrence and location of facial injuries.ResultsOf the 1291 patients involved in car accidents who were included in our study, 291 (22.5%) had suffered facial injuries. We found a significant association between occurrence of facial injuries and sex, speed at the time of collision, impact from the back, seatbelt usage, and deployment of the front airbag. In accidents occurring at speeds over 40 km/h, automobile security measures had no significant influence on the occurrence of facial injuries in drivers and front-seat passengers. In accidents occurring at speeds between 0 and 20 km/h, seatbelt usage (without airbag deployment) solely showed a significant protective influence against the occurrence of facial injuries (odd ratio [OR], 0.130; confidence interval [CI], 0.038–0.451). In contrast, patients who were in accidents at speeds between 21 and 40 km/h suffered significantly fewer facial injuries when wearing a seatbelt with the front airbag being deployed (OR, 0.245; CI, 0.091–0.665) or undeployed (OR, 0.216; CI, 0.084–0.561).ConclusionMale sex and a high speed at the time of collision are significant risk factors for the occurrence of facial injuries. The security measurements evaluated in this study only exerted a protective influence at low speeds (below 40 km/h). This indicates a possible weakness of these security systems with regard to preventing facial injuries. Engineers could benefit from these findings and improve the efficiency of existing security measures and eventually help decrease the incidence of facial injuries. |
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| Keywords: | Car accident Facial injury Seatbelt Airbag Protective factors Risk factors Traffic accident Security measures Speed |
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