Medical Cost and Motorcycle Helmet Law in Taiwan

Table 1

Definitions of the dependent and independent variables.

Variable
Dependent variables
Probability	Traffic accident with head injury = 1; other = 0
Medical cost	NT dollars^a
Length of stay in hospital	Inpatient days
Independent variables
Policy	After motorcycle helmet use law = 1;
	Before motorcycle helmet use law = 0
Geographic location
North	Patient lived in Taipei City, Keelung City, Taipei County, Yilan County, Hsinchu City, Taoyuan County, Hsinchu County, and Miaoli County; yes = 1, other =0
Center	Patient lived in: Taichung City, Taichung County, Changhua County, and Nantou County; yes = 1, other = 0
South	Patient lived in: Tainan City, Chiayi City, Yunlin County, Chiayi County, Tainan County, Kaohsiung City, Kaohsiung County, Pingtung County, and Penghu County; yes = 1, other = 0
East	Patient lived in: Hualien County and Taitung County; yes=1, other =0
Gender	Male = 1; female = 0
Age
Children	Patient’s age from 0 to 14 years old = 1; other = 0
Adult 15–24	Patient’s age from 15 to 24 years old = 1; other = 0
Adult 25–64	Patient’s age from 25 to 64 years old = 1; other = 0
Elderly	Patient’s age over 65 years old = 1; other = 0
Rural/urban ^b
Special municipality	Patient lived in special municipality (regions with populations of not less than 1,250,000 and have special requirements in their political, economic, cultural, and metropolitan developments) = 1; other = 0
City	Patient lived in city (regions with populations of not less than 500,000 but not more than 1,250,000 and occupy major political, economic, and cultural roles) = 1; other = 0
County administered	Patient lived in county-administered (regions with populations of not less than 150,000 but not more than 500,000, and possess thriving industrial and commercial development, adequate financial resources for self-government, convenient transportation, and comprehensive public facilities) = 1; other = 0
Town	Patient lived in town (regions with populations of less than 150,000, and possess thriving industrial and commercial development) = 1; other = 0
Village	Patient lived in village (regions with populations of less than 150,000, and less economic development) = 1; other = 0

^aUS$1 = NT$33.4 in 1998.
^bRural/urban stratify according to the Local Government Act.