Trend of age adjusted mortality rate from road traffic accidents in Iran, 2006-2016

Background: Road traffic accidents (RTAs) are the second cause of death, the first leading cause of years of life lost due to premature mortality and the most common cause of injury in Iran. According to the world health organization estimates, Iran located in the countries that have the highest rates from RTAs. The present study aimed to measure road traffic mortality rates and also to depict a view of trend for a period of eleven-years which started from 2006 to 2016.Methods: In this cross-sectional study we collect data on all road traffic deaths in Iran between 2006 and 2016 using records from the Legal Medicine Organization. Directly standardized mortality rates were calculated. Finally, the information was analyzed by descriptive statistics.Results: during the eleven-year period of this study, 226514 people in Iran died from RTAs. The age-adjusted mortality rate that caused by road traffic has decreased from 41.5 per 100,000 people in 2006 to 20.4 in 2016 in during the study period. There were significant differences in deaths rates between the males and females and between outside city and inside city roads. Age-adjusted mortality rate was significantly higher among the men than in the women. The majority of death has occurred in illiterate young men aged 15-34 years and also in self-employed people.Conclusion: During 2006-2016, mortality from RTAs decreased from 41.5 to 20.4 per 100,000 populations. This decreasing trend was observed in both sex and in the outside city and inside city roads. But this reduction trend in last years of study is not suitable. These findings highlighted that training programs and harm reduction approaches for reducing the mortality from traffic accident should are still needed.

Keywords:

traffic , accidents , mortality , trend , Iran.