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. 2026 Jan 4;18(1):e100786.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.100786. eCollection 2026 Jan.

Community-Based Household Survey Among Children Aged 5-18 to Identify Disability Burden and Health-Related Quality of Life Following Road Traffic Accidents in Ujjain, India

Ashish Pathak  1   2 , Davendra Baghel  2 , Jetendra Jat  2
Affiliations

Community-Based Household Survey Among Children Aged 5-18 to Identify Disability Burden and Health-Related Quality of Life Following Road Traffic Accidents in Ujjain, India

Ashish Pathak et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

Introduction: The objective of the study was to report the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) following road traffic accidents (RTAs) among children.

Methods: A community-based survey using the Hindi version of the European Quality-of-Life five-dimension questionnaire (EQ-5D-5L) was conducted to collect data from the community. The survey included 2,620 households from urban and rural areas of Ujjain, India.

Results: From these households, 229 children aged 5-18 years with a history of RTA in the past one year were identified, with 27%, 63%, and 10% reporting mild, moderate, and severe injuries, respectively, based on the length of hospitalization. Motorcycles, bicycles, and pedestrians constituted most RTAs. Helmet use was low (12%). EQ-5D-5L revealed that the most severe and extreme problem was pain and discomfort, whereas the least severe problem was usual activity and self-care. The most common (65%) injuries were either abrasion or fracture and dislocation. EQ-5D-5L severity index was maximum (mean 72) for lower extremity injuries.

Conclusions: The results highlight the feasibility and importance of using EQ-5D-5L to measure HRQoL in children following RTAs in low-resource settings. Pain/discomfort and lower extremity injuries significantly impair the quality of life, even one year after injury. The high burden from two-wheeler-related injuries and extremely low helmet use underscore the urgent need for creating awareness of road safety interventions, stricter enforcement of helmet laws, and child-focused rehabilitation programs in India.

Keywords: adolescents; children; disability burden; euroqol five-dimension questionnaire; health-related quality of life; road traffic accidents.

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Conflict of interest statement

Human subjects: Informed consent for treatment and open access publication was obtained or waived by all participants in this study. Institutional Ethichs Committee, Ruxmaniben Deepchand Gardi Medical College, Ujjain issued approval 94-A/2019. Animal subjects: All authors have confirmed that this study did not involve animal subjects or tissue. Conflicts of interest: In compliance with the ICMJE uniform disclosure form, all authors declare the following: Payment/services info: All authors have declared that no financial support was received from any organization for the submitted work. Financial relationships: Ashish Pathak declare(s) a grant from Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India. Other relationships: All authors have declared that there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.

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