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A prospective study of the impact of helmet usage on motorcycle trauma
1Program in Emergency Medicine, University of Illinois, College of Medicine, Chicago.
Study Objective:
To determine the effect of the use of a motorcycle helmet on reducing the mortality, morbidity, and health care costs resulting from motorcycle crashes.
Design:
A prospective, multicenter study of all eligible motorcycle crash victims.
Setting:
The emergency departments of eight medical centers across the state of Illinois, including representatives from urban, rural, teaching, and community facilities.
Type Of Participants:
All motorcycle crash victims presenting less than 24 hours after injury for whom helmet information was known. Data were collected from April 1 through October 31, 1988.
Measurements And Main Results:
Fifty-eight of 398 patients (14.6%) were helmeted, and 340 (85.4%) were not. The nonhelmeted patients had higher Injury Severity Scores (11.9 vs 7.02), sustained head/neck injuries more frequently (41.7 vs 24.1%), and had lower Glasgow Coma Scores (13.73 vs 14.51). Twenty-five of the 26 fatalities were nonhelmeted patients. By logistic regression, the lack of helmet use was found to be a major risk factor for increased severity of injury. A 23% increase in health care costs was demonstrated for nonhelmeted patients (average charges $7,208 vs $5,852).
Conclusion:
Helmet use may reduce the overall severity of injury and the incidence of head injuries resulting from motorcycle crashes. A trend toward higher health care costs was demonstrated in the nonhelmeted patients.