Cervical injuries suffered in automobile crashes

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Abstract
The National Crash Severity Study data in which occupants sustained severe, critical-to-life or fatal cervical injuries were reviewed. Of passenger cars damaged severely enough to be towed from the scene, it is estimated that 1 in 300 occupants sustained a neck injury of a severe nature. The neck-injury rate rose to 1 in 14 occupants for those ejected from their cars, although many of these injuries resulted from contacts within the car before or during the ejection. Severe neck injuries were rather rare in cars struck in the rear, but were more common in frontal and side impacts. Occupants between 16-25 yr of age had such injuries more than twice as often as those in any other age group. Most neck injuries of a more severe nature involved the cervical spine or spinal cord. Injuries of the anterior aspect of the neck were relatively infrequent, and usually resulted from direct blunt impacts. National [USA] projections of the number of fatalities related to cervical injuries indicate that 5940 deaths, or approximately 20% of all in-car deaths, include fatal cervical spine injuries, and that about 500 cases of quadriplegia per year result from automobile accidents.

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