Internações e óbitos por acidentes de trânsito no município de Ribeirão Preto antes e durante a pandemia da COVID-19

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: With the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a reduction in transport and general urban mobility with social isolation, accompanied by an increase in the number of deliveries of goods, most of them made by motorcycles, which could increase the exposure of hospitalizations or deaths from traffic accidents. OBJECTIVE: to comparatively analyze hospitalizations and deaths from traffic accidents in the city of Ribeirão Preto before (between 2015 and 2019) and during (2020 and 2021) the COVID-19 pandemic, according to gender, age group, color\race and causes. METHODOLOGY: This was an epidemiological, cross-sectional study of trends in hospitalization and mortality rates of victims of traffic accidents based on information processed by DATASUS. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics and data significance was confirmed by Person's chi-square test. RESULTS: Taking into account traffic accidents according to sex, male rates remained high in both periods and rates. Regarding the age group, the mortality rate prevailed in the 15-24 years and 50+ age groups. As for the hospitalization rate, the ranges of 35-54 years and 70+ were included. The white color emerged in both periods and rates, ahead of the others. Finally, the accidental causes analyzed had motorcycle accidents as the most prominent and revealed an increase in the rate of pedestrians being run over by the pandemic. CONCLUSION: It was possible to identify that the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on traffic accidents in the city in terms of sex and age group, and the race\color of the population in terms of deaths.