Understanding the occurrence of land transportation accidents and describing the victims is fundamental for the definition of prevention and control policies regarding these events and the deaths they cause. The aim of the present study was to characterize the epidemiological profile of land transportation victims and the distribution of emergency care for land transportation accidents using spatial analysis. A descriptive study was carried out using the Mobile Emergency Care Service database of the city of Olinda (Pernambuco, Brazil) for occurrences between July 2006 and June 2007. The geographic distribution was analyzed using the Moran Index. Pedestrians, motorcyclists and bicyclists concentrated 78% of the emergency care; there was a predominance of male victims (79%) and victims between 20 and 39 years of age (65%). A greater concentration of occurrences was found on weekends (56%; χ² = 123.7; p < 0.001). Between Monday and Thursday, 52% of occurrences were concentrated between 6 am and 5:59 pm; on weekends, 57% of the occurrences were concentrated between 6 pm and 5:59 am. Motorcycles were involved in 68% of the accidents and 54% of run-over events. Spatial analysis using the Moran Index indicated regions of risk, thereby stressing the importance of the Geographic Information System and spatial analysis in the monitoring of land transportation accidents. The results demonstrate the potential of this data source to contribute for the permanent monitoring of these events by indicating geographic areas and factors associated with the risk of emergency care in the city. These data should be shown to administrators, healthcare professionals and the general public.
Land transportation accidents; Mobile pre-hospital care; Epidemiological profile; Spatial analysis; External causes; Geoprocessing
