Hospital burden of road traffic injury: Major concern in primary and secondary level hospitals in Bangladesh

Objective To assess the burden of road traffic injury (RTI) in primary and secondary level hospitals in Bangladesh, and its economic impact on affected families. Study design Cross-sectional study. Methods The study was carried out in February and March 2001. To estimate the burden of RTI patients and the length of stay in hospital, the discharge records of primary and secondary level hospitals were used as data sources. Records from 16 district hospitals and 45 Upazila health complexes (subdistrict level hospitals), selected at random, were included in this study. A direct interview method was adopted to estimate the patient costs of RTI; this involved interviewing patients or their attendants. In this study, patient costs included money spent by the patient…