Tieliikenteen vakavat loukkaantumiset: Mitä voimme oppia Ruotsin STRADA-järjestelmästä?

The aim of this study was to explore factors affecting the severity of injuries in Finnish road traffic. In Sweden, the Traffic Accident Data Acquisition (STRADA) system contains information input by hospitals and the police on accidents and injuries in road traffic. The STRADA information was analysed from the viewpoint of the Finnish definition of serious traffic-related injury. All road accidents fulfilling the MAIS3+ criteria in Sweden were examined. Serious accidents recorded by the police were analysed separately and were of special interest, as only police-registered accidents are considered serious in Finland. Serious injuries included in STRADA but not recorded by the police were of also of interest, as they would not appear in the Finnish recording system. During 2010-2014, Swedish hospitals recorded 3.8 seriously injured per fatality in STRADA. However, only half of these were recorded by the police, which causes significant bias in the analysis of serious injuries in road traffic. The study also examined other methods of defining serious injuries than MAIS3+ criteria, selected as the official definition of serious road traffic injury in Europe. MAIS3+ enhances possibilities for comprehensive analysis of the nature of accidents causing severe injuries, and the possibilities for reducing them. However, the method is neither all-inclusive nor the only one available. Recommendations are given for enhancing the follow-up of serious road traffic accidents in Finland.