Risk Factors for Acute Injury in Motor Vehicle Collision
What are risk factors and how can they be used to help predict the severity of an acute injury?
Risk factors for acute injury help to explain why some patients are injured worse than others in “comparable collisions”. The more risk factors a patient has the higher the likely hood of receiving an injury as a result of a motor vehicle collision. Additionally, being aware of the risk factors can possibly aid in picking out your next vehicle.
Risk Factors
Female sex
Female weighing less than 130 pounds in a frontal crash
Tall female
History of prior neck injury
Head restraint below the heads center of gravity (it is important that the head rest is set so that it lines up the right distance from the head and is positioned at the right height)
History of whiplash injury
Poor head restraint geometry/tall occupant (tall occupant is defined in this context as 80th percentile male = about 6 foot and weighing about 200 pounds). This can be somewhat helped by having the head rest properly adjusted for the occupants of the vehicle.
Rear vs. other vector impact
Use of seat belt/shoulder harness (this is important to understand, wearing a seat belt can increase your chances of sustaining whiplash, however, it will also decrease the chance of more sever injuries such as death…wear your seatbelt)
Body mass index/head neck index (this means the smaller and more petite your frame, the more likely you are to be injured during a motor vehicle collision).
Out of position at the time of impact (leaning forward, being slumped etc.)
Having the head turned at the time of impact
Non-awareness of impeding impact
Increasing age (beyond middle age)
Front vs rear seat position
Impact by a vehicle of greater mass (=/>25% greater) (this is an argument for having a larger vehicle).
Crash velocity under 10 mph (this seeming paradox is a phenomenon based on the car’s relative stiffness at different crash velocities).
Additionally, there is also a set of known risk factors for late whiplash (chronic pain/disability). The more risk factors an injured individual possess, the higher the likelihood of long-lasting pain/disability.
Works Cited
Croft, A. (2009). Whiplash and Mild Traumatic Brain Injuries. Coronado: SRISD Press.