article · African Journal of Emergency Medicine
A multi-centre study evaluated plain X-ray records of 1,736 patients injured in motorcycle collisions in Ghana between 2020 and 2023. Traumatic bone injuries had a prevalence rate of 82.9 percent, alongside an overall mortality rate of 10.3 percent. The most frequently fractured bones were the tibia and fibula, followed by the femur and the skull, while joint dislocations occurred predominantly at the ankle, shoulder, and elbow. Passengers carried a disproportionate share of severe trauma, sustaining 50.9 percent of fractures and 57.8 percent of dislocations, as well as the majority of skull and spine fractures. Patients with spine or neck injuries suffered an 85.3 percent mortality rate, while skull injuries resulted in a 65.0 percent mortality rate. The findings show an increasing annual incidence of these injuries, indicating a growing strain on emergency departments and pre-hospital trauma care systems.
Motorcycle collisions cause severe, life-threatening injuries in Ghana, placing intense pressure on healthcare systems. Documenting which bones break most frequently and noting that passengers face higher risks of fatal head and spinal trauma helps public health officials and hospital administrators target protective equipment campaigns, emergency triage protocols, and radiological resources where they are most urgently needed.
The abstract does not propose a commercial product, but the clinical data could inform medical device developers and emergency healthcare providers in configuring pre-hospital trauma kits, protective passenger gear, and rapid diagnostic imaging pathways. Applied clinical and epidemiological insights of this kind serve public health authorities and trauma equipment manufacturers, though translating these epidemiological findings into market products or targeted clinical software remains at an early concept stage.
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Introduction: Motorcycle accidents are a leading cause of traumatic injuries, including bone fractures, dislocations, and soft tissue damage. Despite the growing concern about motorcycle-related injuries, there is a paucity of research. This study assessed traumatic bone injuries secondary to motorcycle accidents in Ghana. Methods: This multi-center quantitative study employed a cross-sectional design to examine plain X-ray reports of 1736 patients with traumatic bone injuries due to motorcycle accidents from January 2020 to December 2023. Data collected were analyzed using SPSS version 25. Statistical significance was set at p-value ≤ 0.05. Results: The prevalence rate of traumatic bone injuries due to motorcycle accidents was 82.9%, and the mortality rate was 10.3%. The tibia/fibula (43.3%), femur (20.6%), and the skull (9.3%) were the most fractured bones, whilst dislocations frequently occurred at the ankle, shoulder, and elbow joints. Fractures of the skull (67.3%, p=0.041) and spine (69.0%, p=0.002) were more common among the passengers. Passengers disproportionately sustained more fractures (50.9%) and dislocations (57.8%) than motorcycle riders. The mortality rates among patients with spine/neck and skull injuries were 85.3% and 65.0%, respectively (p<0.001). Conclusion: The observed increasing annual trend in traumatic bone injury cases underscores a growing burden on emergency departments and highlights the urgent need for strengthened emergency medicine systems, including rapid triage, timely imaging, and coordinated trauma care. This trend also reinforces the importance of targeted motorcycle injury prevention strategies and policy interventions, alongside improved pre-hospital and emergency response services, to reduce both the incidence and severity of motorcycle-related injuries in Ghana.
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DOI: 10.1016/j.afjem.2026.101002
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