U.S. Motor Vehicle Fatality Trends in Young Latino Males

The Latino Epidemiologic Paradox describes favorable health profiles for Latinos compared to non-Latino Whites (NLW) with regard to poverty, low education, and low access to health care. An anomaly to this paradox is increased mortality of Latino adolescent and emerging adult males. Previous research has shown that motor vehicle crash fatalities bear a considerable proportion of the mortality burden attributed to this anomaly. Utilizing two U.S. data sources (CDC-WISQARS and NHTSAFARS), graphical and linear regression methods were used to analyze crash fatality trends and changes in factors that influence crash injury fatality among young Latino males age 15-24. During 1999-2006, 59,719 motor vehicle fatalities occurred among Latino, NLW and Non-Latino Black (NLB) young males. Fatality rates were 37.7, 39.6, and 29.8 per 100,000 population/year for Latinos, NLW and NLB respectively. Over the study period, young Latino male mortality rates increased 27%. By 2006, fatality rates were 41.9, 38.3 and 27.8 per 100,000 population/year for Latinos, NLW and NLB respectively. Among driver fatalities, 43% Latino, 33% NLW and 27% NLB were restrained. Fifty-seven percent of Latino drivers had blood alcohol ≥0.01 g/dl (BAC+), as did 47% of NLW drivers and 42% of NLB drivers. Over the study period, BAC+ changed little among Latinos and NLW drivers but decreased among NLB drivers. Motor vehicle fatality rates for young Latino males are rising despite increasing restraint use and leveling driver BAC+. Without racial/ethnic specific exposure data, limitations exist in discerning the cause of diverging fatality trends and further understanding specific racial/ethnic group crash fatality disparities.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/19432461
• Corporate Authors:

  Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM)

  P.O. Box 4176
  Barrington, IL  United States  60011-4176
• Authors:
  • Vaca, Federico
  • Anderson, Craig L
• Conference:
  • 53rd Annual Scientific Conference of the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine
  • Location: Baltimore MD, United States
  • Date: 2009-10-5 to 2009-10-7
• Publication Date: 2009-10

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: CD-ROM
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 6p
• Monograph Title: Annals of Advances in Automotive Medicine. 53rd Annual Scientific Conference, Baltimore, Maryland, October 5-7, 2009
• Serial:
  • Annals of Advances in Automotive Medicine
  • Volume: 53
  • Publisher: Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM)
  • ISSN: 1943-2461

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Blood alcohol levels; Fatalities; Hispanics; Human factors in crashes; Males; Seat belts; Traffic crashes; Young adults
• Uncontrolled Terms: Mortality rates
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I81: Accident Statistics;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01153584
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Mar 31 2010 7:46AM