In a car accident, women are more injured than men in certain areas – the pelvis and liver – and have a higher shock index.
- Women are more likely to be injured than men in certain areas – the pelvis and liver – during a car accident.
- Their shock index (possible symptom of hemorrhage or even an early indicator of mortality) would also be higher, often greater than 1.
- The researchers believe that, based on their results, vital signs could be different between men and women.
In 2023, 232,000 people were injured on the roads of mainland France, including 16,000 seriously, according to the provisional assessment of road safety in 2023published on January 31, 2024, pending final results at the end of May 2024.
Car accident: more pelvic and liver injuries in women
In a new study, published in the journal Frontiers in Public Health, researchers looked at differences in the severity of injuries, depending on the sex, of road accident victims. To do this, scientists analyzed data from more than 56,000 people who were victims of car accidents, half of whom were women.
According to the authors, men often have more injuries than women, but the latter have more in two specific areas, the pelvis and the liver. The shock index (possible symptom of hemorrhage or even an early indicator of mortality) of women is often greater than 1, unlike men.
“Our results could mean (…) that certain injuries have more impact on the female body, or that the female body handles blood loss differently from the male body.indicates Susan Cronn, first author of the study, in a communicated. This means that our assumption that vital signs are the same for everyone, regardless of gender, should be revisited.”
Taking Body Differences into Account in Car Design
The team emphasizes that the shock index, if differentiated according to sex, could allow rescuers and doctors to treat patients differently. In the future, the researchers hope their research can help “further define the impact of gender on accident injuries for engineers [qui travaillent à la conception des voitures] can take into account significant bodily differences between men and women in vehicle safety design.” As a reminder, 3,402 French people died in 2023 on the roads of mainland France or overseas.
