Sex-Based Differences in Odds of Motor Vehicle Crash Injury Outcomes

Several studies have documented the relative risk or odds of injury and fatality for females versus males in motor vehicle crashes, but none have combined the National Automotive Sampling System–Crashworthiness Data System (NASS-CDS) and the Crash Investigation Sampling System (CISS). The study aimed to document the odds of various injury outcomes for females versus males while considering a range of crash types, pre-crash and crash variables, and occupant demographics. Multivariable logistic regression was used for this purpose. The Approximate Bayesian Bootstrap hot-deck imputation method was applied as part of efforts to create multivariable logistic regression models for 25 different injury outcomes associated with occupants 13 years and older. These models were applied to passenger vehicle crashes published in NASS-CDS (2000 to 2015) and CISS (2017 to 2022). Twenty-four predictor variables (including sex and 23 other occupant, crash, and vehicle covariates) were used across the models. Six crash-type models were produced for each injury outcome; one for each of four different planar crashes (frontal, near-side, far-side, rear), one that included the planar crashes combined, and one for primary rollover crashes. Different than other recent studies, a broader range of crash types, occupant restraint conditions, and seating positions were considered. The results suggest that females tended to have higher injury odds than males, but this varies by injury outcome and the associated crash type.