Background: Rapid economic growth in Vietnam over the last decade has led to an increased frequency of road\r\ntraffic injury (RTI), which now represents one of the leading causes of death in the nation. Various efforts toward\r\ninjury prevention have not produced a significant decline in the incidence of RTIs. Our study sought to describe\r\nthe geographic distribution of RTIs in Hanoi, Vietnam and to evaluate the accessibility of trauma centers to those\r\ninjured in the city.\r\nMethods: We performed a cross-sectional study using Hanoi city police reports from 2006 to describe the\r\nepidemiology of RTIs occurring in Hanoi city. Additionally, we identified geographic patterns and determined the\r\ndirect distance from injury sites to trauma centers by applying geographical information system (GIS) software.\r\nFactors associated with the accessibility of trauma centers were evaluated by multivariate regression analysis.\r\nResults: We mapped 1,271 RTIs in Hanoi city. About 40% of RTIs occurred among people 20-29 years of age.\r\nAdditionally, 63% of RTIs were motorcycle-associated incidents. Two peak times of injury occurrence were\r\nobserved: 12 am-4 pm and 8 pm-0 am. ââ?¬Å?Hot spotsââ?¬Â of road traffic injuries/fatalities were identified in the city area\r\nand on main highways using Kernel density estimation. Interestingly, RTIs occurring along the two north-south\r\nmain roads were not within easy access of trauma centers. Further, fatal cases, gender and injury mechanism were\r\nsignificantly associated with the distance between injury location and trauma centers.\r\nConclusions: Geographical patterns of RTIs in Hanoi city differed by gender, time, and injury mechanism; such\r\ninformation may be useful for injury prevention. Specifically, RTIs occurring along the two north-south main roads\r\nhave lower accessibility to trauma centers, thus an emergency medical service system should be established.
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