Disparity in motorcycle helmet use in Thailand

International Journal for Equity in Health

Pimpa Techakamolsuk³  Piyapong Jiwattanakulpaisarn²  Aratta Rangpueng³  Ammarin Thakkinstian⁴  Paibul Suriyawongpaisa¹ 

[1] Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Rama VI, Ratchathevee 10400, Thailand;ThaiRoads Foundation, Radploa Rd, Jatujak, Bangkok 10900, Thailand;Department of Diseases Control, Ministry of Public Health, Tiwanon, Muang District, Nonthaburi 11000, Thailand;Section for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Rama VI, Ratchathevee, Bangkok 10400, Thailand

关键词: Law enforcement;    Resource allocation;    Helmet use;    Inequity;   

Others  :  811419
DOI  :  10.1186/1475-9276-12-74

 received in 2013-05-20, accepted in 2013-07-21,  发布年份 2013

【 摘 要 】

The dispersion of motorcycle related injuries and deaths might be a result of disparity in motorcycle helmet use. This study uses national roadside survey data, injury sentinel surveillance data and other national data sets in 2010 of Thailand, a country with high mortality related to motorcycle injuries, to explore the disparity in helmet use, explanatory factors of the disparity. It also assessed potential agreement and correlation between helmet use rate reported by the roadside survey and the injury sentinel surveillance. This report revealed helmet use rate of 43.7%(95% CI:43.6,43.9) nationwide with the highest rate (81.8%; 95% CI: 44.0,46.4) in Bangkok. Helmet use rate in drivers (53.3%; 95% CI: 53.2,53.8) was 2.5 times higher than that in passengers (19.3%; 95% CI:18.9,19.7). In relative terms (highest-to-lowest ratio,HLR), geographical disparity in helmet use was found to be higher in passengers (HLR=28.5). Law enforcement activities as indicated by the conviction rate of motorcyclists were significantly associated with the helmet use rate (spline regression coefficient = 3.90, 95% CI: 0.48,7.33). Together with the finding of HLR for conviction rate of 87.24, it is suggested that more equitable improvement in helmet use could be achieved by more equitable distribution of the police force. Finally, we found poor correlation (r=0.01; p value = 0.76) and no agreement (difference = 34.29%; 95% CI:13.48%, 55.09%) between roadside survey and injury sentinel surveillance in estimating helmet use rate. These findings should be considered a warning for employing injury surveillance to monitor policy implementation of helmet use.

【 授权许可】

   
2013 Suriyawongpaisa et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

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