Epidemiological profile and mapping geographical distribution of road traffic accidents reported to a tertiary care hospital, Mangaluru using quantum geographic information system (QGIS)

Habeena Shaira; Poonam R Naik; R Pracheth; Abhay S Nirgude; Subhashree Nandy; M M Hiba; S Karthika

doi:10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_190_20

Epidemiological profile and mapping geographical distribution of road traffic accidents reported to a tertiary care hospital, Mangaluru using quantum geographic information system (QGIS)

J Family Med Prim Care. 2020 Jul 30;9(7):3652-3656. doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_190_20. eCollection 2020 Jul.

Authors

Habeena Shaira¹, Poonam R Naik¹, R Pracheth¹, Abhay S Nirgude¹, Subhashree Nandy¹, M M Hiba², S Karthika²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Community Medicine, Yenepoya Medical College, Mangaluru, Karnataka, India.
² Yenepoya Medical College, Mangaluru, Karnataka, India.

Abstract

Background: The worldwide annual average of road traffic accident (RTA) is approximately 7,00,000 and out of that 10% occur in India. It is estimated that in India, by 2020 RTA would have its fatal effect on about 5,50,000 people annually. This study was conducted to describe the epidemiological profile and spatial distribution of RTAs using quantum geographic information system (QGIS) software reported to a tertiary care hospital in Mangaluru.

Methods: It was a record based descriptive study conducted in a tertiary care hospital of Mangaluru. The complete enumeration of all RTAs reported to Yenepoya Medical College Hospital (YMCH) during January 2018 to June 2018 was followed. QGIS software was used to depict spatial distribution of the road traffic accident on open street map.

Results: A total of 180 cases of RTA was reported to the hospital during the study period, of which 86.1% were males. The mean age of the study participants was 33.99 years. The lower limb was the most common site of injury (48.3%) and fractures were the most common type of injury (55.6%). As per the type of RTA majority (55.6%) was motorbike accidents and drivers (47.8%) were the most common RTA victims. Predominantly RTAs occurred during evening hours of the day (40%). QGIS plotting revealed clustering of RTAs in Dakshina Kannada district, North Karnataka and neighboring districts of Kerala.

Conclusion: QGIS can be used at the health care system level as an important tool to plan preventive measures and early intervention measures at the site of RTA.

Keywords: Epidemiological profile; QGIS; RTA; spatial distribution.