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Biomedical subjects

L S Robertson

Publications and source records attributed to L S Robertson.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

The validity of self-reported behavioral risk factors: seatbelt and alcohol use.

Data from state telephone surveys of self-reported seatbelt use, driving while intoxicated, and drinking five or more alcoholic drinks at one sitting were compared with objectively observed belt use in traffic and evidence of blood alcohol in fatally injured drivers. Self-reported belt use overstates actual use by more than 20 percentage points on average. Self-reported alcohol use is not predictive of the percentage of fatally injured drivers with evidence of blood alcohol among the states.

Alcohol Drinking↗
PubMed1992

The effect of legal drinking age on fatal injuries of adolescents and young adults.

This study examined the effect of legal drinking age (LDA) on fatal injuries in persons aged 15 to 24 years in the United States between 1979 and 1984. Effects on pre-LDA teens, adolescents targeted by LDA, initiation at LDA, and post-LDA drinking experience were assessed. A higher LDA was also associated with reduced death rates for motor vehicle drivers, pedestrians, unintentional injuries excluding motor vehicle injuries, and suicide. An initiation effect on homicides was identified. Reductions in injury deaths related to drinking experience were not found. In general, a higher LDA reduced deaths among adolescents and young adults for various categories of violent death.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1991

How to save fuel and reduce injuries in automobiles.

Increased fuel economy and reduced injuries have been portrayed as incompatible goals, based on the false assumption that vehicle weight is the determining factor in both. Physics predicts that size and velocity, not weight, are the primary factors affecting crash forces, while increased weight or increased velocity consumes more fuel. Analysis of fatal injury rates, injury costs, and fuel use relation to vehicle weight, vehicle size, and engine horsepower confirms that weight is of minimal importance in injury severity compared to the other two factors. Fuel use is a function of weight and horsepower. Injuries and fuel use can be reduced by reducing vehicle horsepower without changing vehicle size.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1990

Effects of recombinant human erythropoietin on HLA sensitization and cell mediated immunity.

Highly presensitized patients wait longer for a renal allograft than unsensitized patients and have a poorer allograft survival rate. Repeated blood transfusions have been implicated in the induction and maintenance of sensitization. To determine the effect of recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) therapy on five transfusion dependent, highly sensitized adolescents on dialysis, we serially measured percentage panel reactive antibody (%PRA) levels, titers of identifiable discrete anti-HLA Class I antibody specificities, and non-specific indices of cellular immunity before and following initiation of rHuEPO therapy. Although four of the five patients had previously rejected at least one renal allograft, the removal of chronic antigenic stimulation from blood transfusions led to a marked reduction in anti-HLA antibody titers to recognizable private and public specificities (P less than 0.001) and a reduction of mean %PRA from 80% to 56% (P less than 0.05). Each patient demonstrated a reduction of two or more dilutions to at least two anti-HLA antibody specificities. A control group of five patients matched for age, transfusion dependence and sensitization status demonstrated no change during a comparable time interval. PHA responsiveness decreased significantly in the rHuEPO group whereas autologous and allogenic mixed lymphocyte response, spontaneous blastogenesis and T-cell subsets did not. These data indicate that in highly sensitized dialysis patients rHuEPO may lead to decreased sensitization, shorter waiting time on dialysis and possibly improved allograft survival rates.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Car design and risk of pedestrian deaths.

Fatal pedestrian injury rates by cars with relatively sharp front-corner designs were compared to such rates by cars of similar-size with relatively smooth front-corner designs. The relative risk of death by front-corner impact was 26 percent greater among the sharp-cornered cars. Pedestrian death rates from impact with other points on the cars and insurance claim frequencies among the studied cars were similar between the two sets of cars.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1989

Static stability as a predictor of overturn in fatal motor vehicle crashes.

Fatal Accident Reporting System (FARS) files for the years 1981-1984 were examined for rollover crash involvement of 15 utility and passenger vehicle make-models for which static stability values (1/2 track width divided by height of center of gravity) were published. The values ranged from highs of 1.57-1.62 for the pre-1979 Ford LTD, the pre-1979 Chevrolet Nova, and the pre-1982 Pontiac Firebird to lows of 1.01-1.07 for the Jeep CJ-5 and CJ-7 and the pre-1978 Ford Bronco. Rollover as the first harmful event and as the most harmful event per 100,000 vehicles registered was strongly predicted by stability. Stability was unrelated to nonrollover crashes. The low-stability vehicles were much more likely to roll over on the road rather than after leaving the road. Other road, driver, and environmental risk factors recorded in the FARS files were not correlated to stability in such a way as to explain the high rollover of low-stability vehicles. Using Federal Highway Administration vehicle mileage estimates, calculations were made of the mileages under various conditions which the vehicles with low stability values would have to have been driven if mileage or hazardous-condition differences rather than stability differences accounted for their substantially higher fatal rollover fatal crash rates. This analysis indicates that fatal rollover rates of low-stability vehicles could not have occurred at reasonable mileage.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1989

Blood alcohol in fatally injured drivers and the minimum legal drinking age.

Although most research on the effect of minimum legal drinking age (LDA) laws on proxies for alcohol-related fatalities find effects of higher LDAs in reducing such fatalities, recent research that supposedly controls for drinking experience claims that higher LDAs have little or no effect. This study examines the actual amount of alcohol in the blood of fatally injured drivers per licensed driver in states where more than 80 percent of such drivers were tested for alcohol and where licensure data were available for the period 1982-1986. The involvement of alcohol in fatal crashes increases with age as the LDA is approached. A higher LDA is associated with fewer alcohol-related crashes among those younger than the LDA. No effect of drinking experience was evident, but this study finds an age-related bias in previously used proxies for alcohol involvement that results in overestimates of alcohol levels in younger drivers.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1989

Risk of fatal rollover in utility vehicles relative to static stability.

The risk of fatal rollover of utility vehicles per 100,000 registered vehicles relative to cars during 1982-87 was strongly correlated to the static stability of the vehicles. Distance between the center of the tires divided by twice the height of center of gravity explained 62 per cent of the variation in fatal rollover rates where rollover was the first harmful event. Statistical controls for 20 major risk factors indicated no correlations that would deflate the correlation between stability and rollover. Low stability utility vehicles roll over more often on the road suggesting that the lateral force of turning is often the tipping force.

Accident Prevention↗
PubMed1988

Injuries in youth football.

The injury experience of 5,128 boys (8 to 15 years of age, weight 22.5 to 67.5 kg [50 to 150 lb]) participating in youth football revealed an overall rate of significant injury of 5%, with 61% classified as moderate and 38.9% as major injuries. No catastrophic injuries occurred, and it was rare for a permanent disability to result from any injury. The upper extremity was most likely to be injured, and fractures were the most common injury to occur. The rate, site, and type of injuries experienced by the pre- and early adolescent players differed from the pattern for older players at higher levels of competition. Variables related to an increased risk of injury included participation in the older and heavier divisions, heavier weight, and involvement in contact activities. Factors associated with the occurrence of an injury were evaluated and provided areas for future study for the prevention of injuries. The medical care received by youth football participants was appropriate, although improved sideline surveillance for injured players is required.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Motor vehicles.

The author discusses the epidemiology of injuries from motor vehicles, the leading killer of children. Type and mechanism of trauma, restrain use, children's relative risk, and issues for advocacy are presented in this article on the occupants of motor vehicles.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1984

Insurance incentives and seat belt use.

In 1983, Nationwide Insurance Company increased compensation payments for its clients injured or killed in a motor vehicle crash while using a seat belt. A survey of belt use was undertaken in the month after all those so insured had been informed of the change. Belt use by drivers insured by Nationwide was not significantly different from that of drivers insured by other companies. The incentive appears to have had no apparent effect on belt use.

Connecticut↗
PubMed1984

Automobile safety regulation: rebuttal and new data.

A respecification of the regression model applied to additional data results in an estimate of about 45,000 lives preserved by regulations during 1975-78, similar to my previous estimates, and 105,000 lives during 1975-1982. The model allows for introduction of new regulations after 1968 and increased compliance. This result is similar to estimates obtained by several investigators using a variety of methods.

Accident Prevention↗