2024-11-15 Request for Input on Discrepancy Between Traffic Death Definitions in Transport Statistics and Cause-of-Death Certification - Response 1

[mortality-forum]

Dear Mortality Forum Members,

Could you please inform us how your national reporting systems handle the differences in frequencies (and their size, if any) resulting from the differences in definition of a traffic death in transport statistics and in cause-of-death certification?

According to the Glossary for Transport Statistics, a "person killed" in a traffic accident is someone who dies immediately or within 30 days after the accident, excluding suicides. In contrast, cause-of-death coding and reporting have no specific time limit for traffic-related deaths.

The WHO is collecting input from countries to understand how these differing definitions are managed. We are particularly interested in any studies or methods that have been effective in making the two definitions comparable or in explaining significant differences between them.

We would greatly appreciate input from mortality forum and MRG members by 6 December 2024.

Thank you for your time and contributions.

WHO team.

Response from Barbara Leitner, Austria

Dear WHO colleagues,

Full coherence of the cause of death statistics with the road traffic accident statistics is not possible because a register comparison at individual level is not feasible due to the lack of information on the persons involved in the accident statistics. Unfortunately, the road accident statistics only receive anonymous data and therefore no personal identifier. Therefore, no linkage or comparison with the cause of death statistics is possible.

There are also differences in definition:

While the civil register statistics on deaths and thus the cause of death statistics count those deceased persons who had their main place of residence in Austria, the road traffic accident statistics register all cases in which an accident occurred on Austrian territory, regardless of whether the person was resident in Austria (place of occurrence principle). This means that all accident victims who were, for example, in transit, in short-term work or on vacation in Austria also appear there.

Furthermore, only deceased persons who died as a result of the accident within 30 days (calculated from the date of the accident) are recorded in the road traffic accident statistics. In contrast, the cause of death statistics include all persons who die as a result of a road traffic accident, regardless of how long the period between the accident and the resulting death was. (WHO definition)

This information is made available to all customers.

Best regards

Barbara