Treatment outcomes and associated factors among road traffic injury patients in emergency departments of public hospitals in Awi Zone Northwest Ethiopia

Abstract

Globally, road traffic injuries (RTIs) cause numerous tragedies such as serious economic loss to the community and death of young people. In Ethiopia, a large proportion of serious injuries result from RTIs and have become major causes of death in hospitals. However, there is insufficient research conducted on treatment outcomes of road traffic injuries and associated factors in the study area. The primary aim of this study was to determine the magnitude of poor treatment outcomes and identify associated factors among patients in the emergency departments of public hospitals in Awi Zone, Northwest Ethiopia. A facility-based cross-sectional study was employed in Awi Zone public hospitals, northwest Ethiopia. With a sample of Medical charts of 461 RTI patients were reviewed and data were collected between January 1, 2022 and June 30, 2024. Data were collected by using data collection checklist. Four nurses and one health officer were employed as data collector and supervisor respectively. Data were entered using Epi Data version 4.7 and cleaned, coded, and analyzed using SPSS version 27. Bivariate analysis was computed and variables with p-value < 0.25 were included in multi-variable logistic regression. The significant of statistical associations were tested using odds ratio and 95% confidence interval (CI) and p-value < 0.05. Finally, the results were presented in texts, tables, and graphs. For this study, 461 study subjects of RTIs victims were enrolled. Among these, 49 (10.6%) patients had poor treatment outcomes. Patients aged 31-50 years [AOR = 0.091, 95% CI: 0.019-0.443], patient age > 50 years [AOR = 0.114, 95% CI: 0.021-0.606], absence of complication [AOR: 0.021; CI: (0.002-0.208)], and patients who received first aid [AOR: 0.340; CI: (0.123-0.938)] were significantly associated with poor treatment outcomes. The study showed a high rate of prognosis but still the poor outcome was not underestimated. Age, absence of complications, and first aid service were statistically significant factors that affect treatment outcomes. Therefore, health care providers should prioritize those RTI victims with complication, not received first aid service, and younger age groups.