Objective To analyze the disease burden caused by road traffic injury and its changing trend in Zhejiang province from 1990 to 2019 and provide evidence for the development of more appropriate prevention and control measures for road traffic injury in Zhejiang.

Methods By using the data of Global Burden of Disease 2019 (GBD 2019), the burden of road traffic injury was evaluated by mortality, disability-adjusted life years (DALY) rate, years of life lost (YLL) due to premature mortality rate and years lived with disability (YLD) rate, and compared with the areas in China and the regions in the world with different socio-demographic index (SDI). Software Joinpoint was used to calculate the average annual percent change (AAPC) of each indicator.

Results From 1990 to 2019, the age-standardized mortality, age-standardized DALY rate and age-standardized YLL rate of road traffic injury in Zhejiang showed a downward trend (AAPC = −2.02%, −1.74% and −2.66%, all P<0.001), but the age-standardized YLD rate showed an upward trend (APCC=1.24%, P<0.001). In 2019, the age-standardized mortality and age-standardized DALY rate of road traffic injury in Zhejiang were 11.25/100 000 and 681.13/100 000, respectively. The mortality rate of pedestrian road injury ranked first. The age-standardized mortality rate (15.83/100 000), age-standardized YLL rate (632.49/100 000), age-standardized YLD rate (264.04/100 000) and age-standardized DALY rate (896.53/100 000) in men were higher than those in women (6.70/100 000, 255.93/100 000, 197.86/100 000 and 453.78/100 000). Compared with 1990, the mortality, YLL and DALY rates in children aged 0 years decreased most obviously in 2019 (79.60%, 79.59% and 79.51% in boys, and 78.35%, 78.34% and 78.27% in girls), while the mortality rate of road traffic injury in men aged ≥80 years increased by 25.32%. In addition, the DALY rates of road traffic injury in men aged ≥60 years and in women aged ≥65 years were higher in 2019 than in 1990. The cross-regional comparison showed that the disease burden level of road traffic injury in Zhejiang was relatively low, the age-standardized YLL rate was lowest and only the age-standardized mortality and DALY rates were higher than those in high SDI areas.

Conclusion The disease burden level of road traffic injury in Zhejiang showed decline trend, and the cross-regional comparison indicated a relatively low level. However, there were also problems such as the increased age-standardized YLD rate, and the higher level of disease burden in old age group and in men. It is still necessary to strengthen the prevention and control of road traffic injury to further reduce the related disease burden in Zhejiang.