NIMHANS study finds higher degrees of depression among ‘severely injured' road traffic accident victims
Aimed at understanding the 'quality of life', anxiety, and depression levels among the victims of RTA, the study has recommended that following medical treatment, RTA victims and their families must undergo psychosocial counselling to lessen their anxiety and enhance their quality of life.
The study titled Quality of life, anxiety and depression among non-fatal road traffic accidents victims in South India was published in Social Sciences and Humanities Open, an open access scientific journal, on June 28.
Financial hardship
Road traffic accidents, whether fatal or non-fatal, can be the cause of substantial financial hardships and significant mental health issues to victims and their families. While several studies done in the past have shown that RTAs lead to stigma, stress and anxiety, depression and economic burden on individuals and their families, there are a limited number of studies available on the association between RTA victims' quality of life (QoL) and their stressful conditions. QoL assessment is widely used for many ailments, for instance on stroke-affected, hypertensive, and diabetic patients.
'These conditions and their relationship with QoL have been reported in many studies. However, there is no Indian research available on depression, anxiety or the quality of life among RTA victims. Our study recommends that psychosocial counselling following medical treatment is a must for RTA victims and their families,' Palaniappan Marimuthu, professor and head of the Department of Biostatistics at NIMHANS, told The Hindu.
Non-fatal RTA victims
'The objective of this paper is to understand depression among non-fatal RTA victims in terms of quality of life, anxiety and associated socio-demographic variables. This paper is part of a larger study funded by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR),' said Dr. Marimuthu, who is the corresponding author of the study.
For the study, the researchers randomly selected a total of 407 non-fatal RTA victims from the State Crime Record Bureaus (SCRBs) of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Data collection was done using socio-demographic and accident information, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and WHO Quality of Life tools.
'The four domains of QoL (physical health, psychological health, social relationships, and environment) apart from education and age were employed along with the Quantile Regression approach to examine how they affect the dependent variable of depression score. Non-fatal victims were classified into 'Severely Injured' and 'No Serious Injury'. When age, education and expenditure on RTA treatment were compared, except age the other two variables were statistically significant. The four domains of QoL also significantly differed between these two groups,' the doctor explained.
Anxiety as variable
Manoj Kumar Sharma, professor at the Department of Clinical Psychology, who also heads SHUT Clinic at NIMHANS and is part of the research team for this study, said anxiety is the most important variable which contributed in almost all the quantiles of depression followed by psychological health, social relationship, environmental health and age of the RTA victims.
Asserting the importance of not using mobile phones while driving, Dr. Sharma said using a phone while driving distracts the driver's attention from the road, slows reaction time, and increases the chances of accidents.
'Even a few seconds of looking at a screen can lead to a serious crash. Safe driving requires full concentration on the surroundings, road signs, and other vehicles, which is impossible if someone is texting or calling. Therefore, avoiding mobile phone use while driving helps ensure safety for everyone on the road,' he added.
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