{"title":"Did 'long COVID' increase road deaths in the USA?","authors":"Leon Robertson","doi":"10.1136/ip-2023-045136","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>To examine data on COVID-19 disease associated with a 10% increase in US road deaths from 2020 to 2021 that raises the question of the potential effect of pandemic stress and neurological damage from COVID-19 disease.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Poisson regression was used to estimate the association of recent COVID-19 cases, accumulated cases, maximum temperatures, truck registrations and gasoline prices with road deaths monthly among US states in 2021. Using the regression coefficients, changes in each risk factor from 2020 to 2021 were used to calculate expected deaths in 2021 if each factor had remained the same as in 2020.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Corrected for the other risk factors, road deaths were associated with accumulated COVID-19 cases but not concurrent cases. More than 20 700 road deaths were associated with the changes in accumulated COVID-19 cases but were substantially offset by about 19 100 less-than-expected deaths associated with increased gasoline prices.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The lingering effects of COVID-19 on neurological function may be a risk factor for behaviour leading to road deaths.</p>","PeriodicalId":13682,"journal":{"name":"Injury Prevention","volume":" ","pages":"18-20"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5000,"publicationDate":"2025-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Injury Prevention","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1136/ip-2023-045136","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Objective: To examine data on COVID-19 disease associated with a 10% increase in US road deaths from 2020 to 2021 that raises the question of the potential effect of pandemic stress and neurological damage from COVID-19 disease.
Methods: Poisson regression was used to estimate the association of recent COVID-19 cases, accumulated cases, maximum temperatures, truck registrations and gasoline prices with road deaths monthly among US states in 2021. Using the regression coefficients, changes in each risk factor from 2020 to 2021 were used to calculate expected deaths in 2021 if each factor had remained the same as in 2020.
Results: Corrected for the other risk factors, road deaths were associated with accumulated COVID-19 cases but not concurrent cases. More than 20 700 road deaths were associated with the changes in accumulated COVID-19 cases but were substantially offset by about 19 100 less-than-expected deaths associated with increased gasoline prices.
Conclusions: The lingering effects of COVID-19 on neurological function may be a risk factor for behaviour leading to road deaths.
期刊介绍:
Since its inception in 1995, Injury Prevention has been the pre-eminent repository of original research and compelling commentary relevant to this increasingly important field. An international peer reviewed journal, it offers the best in science, policy, and public health practice to reduce the burden of injury in all age groups around the world. The journal publishes original research, opinion, debate and special features on the prevention of unintentional, occupational and intentional (violence-related) injuries. Injury Prevention is online only.