(Joint unit INRETS/UCLB/InVS - UMRESTTE, UMR T n°. 9002)

Research Unit Managers : Bernard LAUMON, Alain BERGERET

- INRETS, 25, avenue François Mitterrand, F-69675 BRON Cedex - Phone : +33 4 72 14 25 10 - Fax. +33 4 72 14 25 20

- UCBL, 8, avenue Rockefeller, F-69373 LYON Cedex 08 - Phone : +33 4 78 77 56 78 ou +33 4 78 78 28 08

Adr. élect. : umrestte@inrets.fr

 

UMRESTTE is a research unit associating the French National Institute for Transport and Safety Research (INRETS), Claude Bernard University Lyon 1 (UCLB) and the Health Observatory Institute (InVS). Its mission is to carry out epidemiological studies and health observatory activities, above all in the field of transport, in order to improve knowledge on and the assessment of:

• accident traumas and their prevention,
• the effects of environmental nuisances on health, from simple annoyance to mortality,
• the effects of working conditions on health.

UMRESTTE is staffed by about fifty people (from INRETS, UCBL, InVS, INSERM and persons made available by other bodies such as the Hospices Civils de Lyon). Its research is done at two sites: the INRETS research centre at Bron and the UCBL Rockefeller campus.

 

AREAS OF ACTION

UMRESTTE contributes to better knowledge of the causes and consequences of accidents by carring out major epidemiological surveys.

1. THE HEALTH OF USERS AND ROAD SAFETY

• The Register
  INRETS has set up a Road Medical Road Accident Trauma Register in close collaboration with the Association for the Road Traffic Accident Victim Register Association (ARVAC), whose members include the medical profession, and the emergency services of the Rhône department. It has been qualified by the National Committee of Registers and is the only register of its type in Europe. This register has been kept since 1995 to record accidents and victims, study the frequency, nature and mechanisms of injuries and obtain knowledge of the clinical fate of the injured. It also permits studying the injury mechanisms of accidents involving light vehicles, and contributes towards better characterisation and knowledge of serious injuries via additional studies.
  
  
• Coordinated research based on the Register

Analysis of the Register database: this consists of the systematic annual analysis of all the victims, and according to each type of user.

Extrapolation of the Register data at national level: the national traffic accident trauma analysis network (BAAC) can be used to extrapolate the Register data to the whole of France.

SERAC project: the aim of this project is to identify the clinical and biological prognoses of the deficiencies, incapacities and disadvantages of children from 6 to 12 months treated in paediatric intensive care units following accidents.

Participation in the European PENDANT and SAFETYNET projects: the unit participates actively in all the topics dealt with, especially the analysis of medical data and the injury descriptions of deceased victims.

Study of injury tables of pedestrians hit by light vehicles (APPA): the aim of this project is to obtain knowledge of the medical implications of injuries suffered by pedestrians hit by vehicles.

ESPARR Project (constitution and monitoring of a representative cohort of accident victims in the Rhone département). This study will focus on the risk factors of road accidents, with the analysis of their consequences on health, the victims’ families, and long term professional and social life, as well as on the needs for care and assistance of victims and their families. A case control study carried out on the cohort will permit evaluating the risk of serious injury linked with factors existing prior to the accident related to health, the consumption of psychostimulants, listening to the radio, making phone calls and the number of hours slept the previous night.

Characterisation of work-related traffic accidents: this focuses on the types of occupation and industrial activity concerned by accidents involving travel and commuting, and on obtaining information related to their circumstances and occupational consequences.

The risk factors of road accidents while working: this study aims to identify the occupational risk factors of accidents occurring when travelling for work and the occupations concerned.

The causes of death in victims killed instantly: post-mortem echography and x-ray diagnoses permit authentic and precise determination of causes of death. These results are also recorded in the register.

Redefinition of road traffic accident victims: this research is carried out to evaluate the pertinence of the definition “seriously injured”.

• Other “User health and road insecurity” projects
  
  
  SAM study
  (Narcotic drugs and fatal accidents): this study focuses on evaluating the quality of screening tests, implementing appropriate measurement methods capable of taking into account the role played by narcotic drugs in fatal accidents, and evaluating the contribution of alcohol and psychoactive drugs to the occurrence of accidents in which the driver is also under the influence of narcotic drugs.

  SEROVIE (Road security and aging): both epidemiological and experimental studies will be used to evaluate the links between cognitive and attentional functions and driving capacities on the one hand, and the occurrence of accidents on the other.

  Epidemiological study of traffic accidents in the GAZEL cohort: this is a longitudinal study on road insecurity in the framework of the GAZEL cohort (20,000 EDF-GDF employees monitored over 15 years).

• WHO Collaborating Center for Road Traffic Trauma Prevention : Activities of the Centre are coordinated by UMRESTTE through an Integrated Research Programme (PFI) which is part of the multiannual research programme of INRETS for 2006-2009.

2. ACCIDENTOLOGY AND HIGHWAY INFRASTUCTURE

This includes different research studies to obtain better knowledge of the influence of highway infrastructures on the typology, frequency and above all seriousness of accidents, with particular attention being given to the efficiency of crash barriers in the case of vehicles running off traffic lanes.

ENVIRONMENTAL NUISANCES AND HEALTH

Automobile generated atmospheric pollution
UMRESTTE has been closely involved in the formulation and validation of an index (ExTra) for homes exposed to pollution generated by automobile traffic. Our expertise has made a major contribution towards stabilising the methodology used in studies carried out to evaluate the impact of transport infrastructures on health.

INCITRA (Congenital malformation and exposure to atmospheric pollution emitted from the incineration of household waste and automobile traffic): this study focuses on the general environment of women and aims at highlighting the chemical factors of health risks and their interactions.

Waves produced by mobile phones
UMRESTTE is the French partner of the international “Mobile phones and health” survey, coordinated by the International Cancer Research Agency (ICRA) and the World Health Organisation (WHO). The aim is to determine whether mobile phone use increases the occurrence of certain brain tumours.

The effects of noise
UMRESTTE carries out work on the evolution through time of the auditive capacities of different age groups and the evaluation of the role played by environmental noise in the evolution of deafness in work and non-work environments.

WORK CONDITIONS AND HEALTH

The professional dimension of road insecurity. As mentioned previously, several of our studies on road insecurity are work-related.

Formulation of “MATGENE”, a multi-nuisance job-exposure matrix
The UMRESTTE occupational health team is involved in projects carried out by the InVS Occupational Health Department. They are intended to develop epidemiological tools that permit monitoring the exposure of employees in France and monitoring the health of target populations of employees still in activity and after retirement.

Evaluation of data collected during the SUMER survey of 2001 (Medical monitoring of Exposure and Risks). The objective is to validate the evaluations of occupational exposure in a sample of employees working in contemporary activities.

Occupational exposure to trichlorethylene and kidney cancer. This study is aimed at verifying the possibilities of such a link in a population living in the Arve valley. (See Occupationnal Questionnaire).

Occupational and environmental exposure and breast cancer in women. This is a case control study set up by the INSERM 170 unit to verify possible links between pre and postmenopausal breast cancer and chemical compounds encountered through life.

Feasibility of a cohort study of mortality in a company making refractory ceramics. The Saint Gobin Group has asked UMRESTTE to set up an epidemiological study to analyse a possible excess rate of cancers in their present and former employees.

PERMANENT DATABASE

• A database, in use since 1985, of accident traumas and material damage on the highways of the Autoroute du Sud network (ASF) and part of that managed by the Société des Autoroutes Paris Rhin Rhône (SAPRR).
• The Rhône medical Road Accident Trauma Register (since 1995).
  

For more details visit the French UMRESTTE Web page