Obesity increases death risk in vehicle crashes
By IANSWednesday, December 22, 2010
WASHINGTON - Obesity spells a higher death risk in severe vehicular crashes.
In a motor crash or collision, a moderately obese driver faces a 21 percent higher risk of death, while it is 56 percent more risky for the morbidly obese, says a study.
Dietrich Jehle, professor of emergency medicine at University at Buffalo, School of Medicine, led the study, the American Journal of Emergency Medicine reports.
Significantly, underweight and normal weight drivers were found to be at a higher risk of dying from a severe crash than slightly overweight drivers, according to a Buffalo statement.
“The severity and patterns of crash injuries depend on a complex interaction of biomechanical factors, including deceleration velocity at impact, seat belt and airbag use, vehicle type and weight and type of impact,” says Jehle.
“But the effect of body mass on crash outcome has not been previously evaluated in databases of adequate size or controlled for some of these confounding factors.”
“Crash test dummies have saved lives and provided invaluable data on how human bodies react to crashes, but they are designed to represent normal-weight individuals.”
“If they represented our overweight American society, there could be further improvements in vehicle design that could decrease mortality,” adds Jehle.
