Reports from Hokkaido University Highlight Recent Findings in Health and Medicine (Effect of an educational leaflet on the frequency of seat belt use and the rate of motor vehicle accidents during pregnancy in Japan in 2018: a prospective, …)

2019 OCT 08 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Japan Daily Report -- Fresh data on Health and Medicine are presented in a new report. According to news reporting from Sapporo, Japan, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “To determine whether an educational leaflet had any effect on seat belt use, seat preference and motor vehicle accidents rate during pregnancy in Japan. Prospective, non-randomised control trial with a questionnaire survey.”

Financial support for this research came from The General Insurance Association of Japan.

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from Hokkaido University, “Eight obstetric hospitals in Sapporo, Japan. 2216 pregnant women, of whom 1105 received the leaflet (intervention group) and 1111 did not (control group). Distribution of an educational leaflet on seat belt use to women in the intervention group. The effect of an educational leaflet on seat belt use, each pregnant woman’s seat preference and the women’s rates of motor vehicle accidents rate during their pregnancies. To evaluate the effects, the intervention group’s responses to the questionnaires were compared with those of the control group. The proportion of subjects who always used seat belts during pregnancy was significantly higher in the intervention group (91.3%) than in the control group (86.7%; p=0.0005). Among all subjects, the percentage of women who preferred the driver’s seat was lower during pregnancy (27.0%) than before pregnancy (38.7%), and the percentage of women who preferred the rear seat was higher during pregnancy (28.8%) than before pregnancy (21.0%). These two rates did not differ between two groups. Seventy-one women (3.2%) reported experiencing a motor vehicle accident during pregnancy. The motor vehicle accident rate for the intervention group (3.3%) was similar to that for the control group (3.2%). An educational seat belt leaflet was effective in raising the rate of consistent seat belt use during pregnancy, but it did not decrease the rate of motor vehicle accidents.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “The wearing of seat belts should be promoted more extensively among pregnant women to decrease rates of pregnancy-related morbidity and mortality from motor vehicle accidents.”

For more information on this research see: Effect of an educational leaflet on the frequency of seat belt use and the rate of motor vehicle accidents during pregnancy in Japan in 2018: a prospective, non-randomised control trial with a questionnaire survey. Bmj Open, 2019;9(9):e031839. (BMJ Publishing Group - http://group.bmj.com/; Bmj Open - http://bmjopen.bmj.com/)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting M. Morikawa, Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan. Additional authors for this research include T. Yamada, H. Kogo, M. Sugawara, A. Nishikawa, Y. Fukushi, E.K. Hirayama, S.I. Ishioka and H. Watari.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-031839. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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