PATROL - Post-mortem injury PATterns after fatal ROad traffic coLlisions

PATROL (Post-mortem injury PATterns after fatal ROad traffic coLlisions) is a systematic review and meta-analysis aimed at characterising the prevalence and distribution of injuries among individuals who died at the scene or shortly after Emergency Department admission following road traffic collisions. Most knowledge driving prehospital care priorities derives from trauma survivors. This review focuses on those who do not survive, using autopsy and post-mortem CT data to identify injury patterns — including potentially survivable injuries — that could inform prehospital intervention priorities. The review follows the CoCoPop framework and PRISMA 2020 reporting guidelines. MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Scopus will be searched from inception. Two independent reviewers will screen studies, perform data extraction, and assess quality using the JBI checklist for prevalence studies. Injury prevalence will be synthesised across seven anatomical regions (head, face, spine, thorax, abdomen, pelvis, extremities) using a three-level random-effects meta-analytic model, for both any injury and severe injury (AIS ≥ 3).