Motor vehicle collisions (MVC) account for 3.6 million emergency department attendances and 34,000 deaths annually. The combination of lap / shoulder seat belts and airbag deployment reduces mortality by more than 80%. MCVs are responsible for 48-66% of all renal injuries and currently the role of these protective devices in reducing solid organ damage is unclear. The authors hypothesised that the combination of both seat belts and airbags could reduce the risk of high-grade renal trauma (American Association for the Surgery of Trauma Organ Injury Scale grades III-V) and reduce the risk of nephrectomies secondary to MCVs. A retrospective cohort study was carried out. Data was taken from the National Trauma Database (NTDB) from 2010-2012 and to standardise the population the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) criteria was used. Renal trauma patients were selected from the database and categorised depending on protective devices used: none, seat belt (lap belt and / or shoulder belt) and airbag deployment. Surgical management was either nephrectomy or angio-embolisation. Statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS with p≤0.05. A total of 3864 cases were found to have renal trauma resulting from MCVs, contributing to 0.8% of all MVC cases. The authors found an increased risk of high-grade renal trauma in those without any protective devices (45.1%) in comparison to seat belt only group (39.9%), airbags only (42.3%) and combination of both (34.7%). In cases without protective devices 56.1% of patients required nephrectomy in comparison to those wearing seat belts (20%), airbags only (10.5%) and combination of both (13.3%). There was no correlation between protective devices and angioembolisation rate. Overall, the risk of high-grade renal trauma was reduced by airbags (23.2%) whilst those with both protective devices resulted in the greatest relative risk reduction (39.9%).
The impact of seat belts and airbags on renal injuries and nephrectomy rate
Top Of Page
Accreditations
Pinpoint Scotland Ltd (Registered in Scotland No. SC068684) | © 2024 - Website by Gecko Agency