TY - JOUR
T1 - Pediatric bicycle-related head injuries
T2 - a population-based study in a county without a helmet law
AU - Kaushik, Ruchi
AU - Krisch, Isabelle M.
AU - Schroeder, Darrell R.
AU - Flick, Randall
AU - Nemergut, Michael E.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank Shonie Buenvenida, BSN, for her technical support with the REDCap database, Jennifer St. Sauver, MPH, PhD, for her guidance in population-based studies, and Barb Abbott, Donna Kahn, and Mircea Baias for their time and effort in identifying and retrieving the data. The REP is supported by the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R01AG034676. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, Kaushik et al.
PY - 2015/12/1
Y1 - 2015/12/1
N2 - Background: Head injuries are the leading cause of death among cyclists, 85 % of which can be prevented by wearing a bicycle helmet. This study aims to estimate the incidence of pediatric bicycle-related injuries in Olmsted County and assess differences in injuries between those wearing helmets vs. not. Methods: Olmsted County, Minnesota residents 5 to 18 years of age with a diagnostic code consistent with an injury associated with the use of a bicycle between January 1, 2002, and December 31, 2011, were identified. Incidence rates were calculated and standardized to the age and sex distribution of the 2000 US white population. Type of injuries, the percentage requiring head CT or X-ray, and hospitalization were compared using a chi-square test. Pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) admission, permanent neurologic injury, seizure, need for mechanical ventilation, and mortality were compared using Fisher’s exact test. Results: A total of 1189 bicycle injuries were identified. The overall age-adjusted incidence rate of all injuries was 278 (95 % CI, 249 to 306) per 100,000 person-years for females and 589 (95 % CI, 549 to 629) for males. The corresponding rates for head injuries were 104 (95 % CI, 87 to 121) for females and 255 (95 % CI, 229 to 281) for males. Of patients with head injuries, 17.4 % were documented to have been wearing a helmet, 44.8 % were documented as not wearing a helmet, and 37.8 % had no helmet use documentation. Patients with a head injury who were documented as not wearing a helmet were significantly more likely to undergo imaging of the head (32.1 percent vs. 11.5 %; p < 0.001) and to experience a brain injury (28.1 vs. 13.8 %; p = 0.008). Conclusions: Children and adolescents continue to ride bicycles without wearing helmets, resulting in severe head and facial injuries and mortality.
AB - Background: Head injuries are the leading cause of death among cyclists, 85 % of which can be prevented by wearing a bicycle helmet. This study aims to estimate the incidence of pediatric bicycle-related injuries in Olmsted County and assess differences in injuries between those wearing helmets vs. not. Methods: Olmsted County, Minnesota residents 5 to 18 years of age with a diagnostic code consistent with an injury associated with the use of a bicycle between January 1, 2002, and December 31, 2011, were identified. Incidence rates were calculated and standardized to the age and sex distribution of the 2000 US white population. Type of injuries, the percentage requiring head CT or X-ray, and hospitalization were compared using a chi-square test. Pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) admission, permanent neurologic injury, seizure, need for mechanical ventilation, and mortality were compared using Fisher’s exact test. Results: A total of 1189 bicycle injuries were identified. The overall age-adjusted incidence rate of all injuries was 278 (95 % CI, 249 to 306) per 100,000 person-years for females and 589 (95 % CI, 549 to 629) for males. The corresponding rates for head injuries were 104 (95 % CI, 87 to 121) for females and 255 (95 % CI, 229 to 281) for males. Of patients with head injuries, 17.4 % were documented to have been wearing a helmet, 44.8 % were documented as not wearing a helmet, and 37.8 % had no helmet use documentation. Patients with a head injury who were documented as not wearing a helmet were significantly more likely to undergo imaging of the head (32.1 percent vs. 11.5 %; p < 0.001) and to experience a brain injury (28.1 vs. 13.8 %; p = 0.008). Conclusions: Children and adolescents continue to ride bicycles without wearing helmets, resulting in severe head and facial injuries and mortality.
KW - Bicycle helmets
KW - Head injuries
KW - Public health
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85019751332&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85019751332&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s40621-015-0048-1
DO - 10.1186/s40621-015-0048-1
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85019751332
VL - 2
SP - 1
EP - 9
JO - Injury Epidemiology
JF - Injury Epidemiology
SN - 2197-1714
IS - 1
M1 - 16
ER -