Background: Road traffic injury (RTI) is one of the main reasons for trauma-related admission in Ethiopian hospitals. Nationally representative data is needed to develop and implement the public health emergency management strategy. Therefore, this study was aimed to estimate the national pooled prevalence of RTI among trauma patients in Ethiopia.
Methods: PubMed, Excerpta Medica Database (EMBASE), psycEXTRA, and Google Scholar databases were searched. Heterogeneity of studies was assessed using the I2 statistics. Publication bias was checked by using funnel plot and Egger's regression test. The DerSimonian and Laird's random-effects model was used to estimate the pooled prevalence. Subgroup analysis was conducted by age and region. The trend of RTI estimated as well.
Results: The pooled prevalence of RTI among trauma patients in Ethiopia was 31.5% (95% CI: 25.4%, 37.7%). Regional subgroup analysis showed that the pooled prevalence of RTI was 58.3% in the region of southern, nation, nationalities, and peoples (SNNPR) and 33.3% in Addis Ababa. Subgroup analysis based on patients age showed that the pooled prevalence of RTI was 51.7% in adults, 14.2% in children, and 32.6% in all age group. The time-trend analysis has shown an increasing burden of RTI in Ethiopian hospitals.
Conclusion: The burden of RTI among trauma patients was high. Therefore, strengthening road safety management throughout the country is needed to reduce RTI.
Keywords: Ethiopia; Hospitals; Road traffic injury; Trauma patients.