PREVALENCE AND RISK OF HOSPITALIZED PREGNANT OCCUPANTS IN CAR CRASHES Harold B. Weiss Center for Injury Research and Control University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Bruce Lawrence and Ted Miller Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation Calverton, Maryland ABSTRACT Hospitalized maternal injuries pose a serious threat to the fetus, therefore understanding their burden is important. In addition, this study examined whether the risk of serious injury from crashes changes during pregnancy. Using 1997 hospital discharge data from 19 states, injuries to younger women were classified as motor-vehicle related with and without pregnancy-associated diagnoses. The pregnancy screen identified 1,488 motor-vehicle occupant injury discharges (rate=129/100,000 person-years, rate-ratio=1.88, 95% CI=1.49, 1.98). Pregnancy-associated cases were younger, their median charge-per-visit and mean ISS were lower and their average length-of-stay was shorter. Once adjusted for severity, the age- specific rate-ratios were not significantly different than one. The earliest accounts of trauma to pregnant women spoke of falls, “blows” and assaults as the leading mechanisms by which the mother and fetus fell victim (Brinton, 1884). By the mid-twentieth century, as Western society mechanized and motorized, automobiles rapidly rose to the fore. In the last couple of decades these trends have accelerated, with women, including women of reproductive age, taking to the road as never before. Concomitantly, many of the infectious scourges and complications of childbirth succumbed to the advances of modern health care and public health practice. The resulting changes in mortality patterns have led to the recognition that motor-vehicle related injuries are now the leading cause of death during pregnancy in many developed countries (Rochat, Koonin, Atrash, & Jewett, 1988; Weiss, 2001a), the leading cause of traumatic fetal injury mortality in the United States (Weiss, 2001b), and the leading cause of hospitalized trauma during pregnancy (Weiss, 1999a; Schiff, Holt, & Daling, 2001). 46 th ANNUAL PROCEEDINGS ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF AUTOMOTIVE MEDICINE September 30 - October 2, 2002