Complementing police road-crash records with trauma registry data - an initial evaluation

This paper examines the consistency of hospital and police reporting of out comes of road traffic crashes using a database of linked police crash repor ts and trauma registry records. Criteria for inclusion into the trauma regi stry include trauma-related causes with subsequent stay of more than 24 h o r death due to injuries. During the 1997 calendar year there were 497 cases of road-related injuries within the combined trauma registry of Sir Charle s Gairdner and Fremantle Hospitals, of which only 82% had matching police r ecords. Linkage rates were associated with gender, injury severity and the number of vehicles involved. Within the road user category, pedestrians wer e least likely to link. Of the linked records, police classification of inj ury severity was correct in 78% of cases. Male casualties were more likely to be correctly classified than females, after adjustment for related varia bles including injury severity. Correct classification of injury by police was also closely related to severity of injury. Identification and targetin g of these groups of casualties is vital in refining the road-crash reporti ng system. Increased crash reporting and availability of data from these tw o sources will provide road authorities with more reliable measures of inju ry outcome. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.