Objective: to estimate the health impact of road traffic accidents in the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, Northeastern Italy.
Design: burden of disease (BoD) study.
Setting and participants: we used data on road traffic accidents collected by the Police in the Friuli Venezia Giulia in 2010 and health data regarding Emergency Room visits, hospital admissions, and deaths.
Main outcome measures: we calculated the Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALY) lost because of road traffic accidents. The kernel density of the DALYs in the region was analyzed and mapped.
Results: it was estimated that 3,861 DALYs were lost in 2010. Years lost because of premature deaths outnumbered those lost because of disability. The highest number of DALYs was lost among 15-44-year-old males. Of 14,361 injured persons included in the analysis, only 4,357 were found in the Police database. However, these injuries accounted for 95% of all the DALYs.
Conclusion: the present study identified population subgroups with a particularly high impact of road traffic accidents. Educational and Police interventions to prevent accidents should be addressed to those subgroups. In the future, repeating this analysis will allow an evaluation of the effectiveness of preventive interventions in terms of health gains.