METHODS

The study group included 2,128 motor vehicle occupants, pedestrians, and other road users whose injuries resulted in hospitalization or caused death. All such patients at eight Balti-more hospitals during the 2-year period 1968–1969 were included. The eight hospitals were selected on the basis of having record systems that made it feasible to identify patients admitted because of vehicle-related injuries. Seven of the hospitals were participants in the Professional Activity Study (PAS), and at these hospitals the coded PAS data were used. At the eighth hospital data were obtained from patients' charts. Patients transferred to other hospitals or extended care facilities were followed to determine their status as of March 1971. Records from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Maryland provided a second source of information for persons who died following hospital admission, and also made it possible to include persons who were dead on arrival (DOA) or who died in emergency rooms prior to admis-