Abstract:
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.
