Risk of Head, Facial and Neck Injury in Bicycle and Motorcycle Crashes in relation to Helmet Use

Recent rises in bicycle and motorcycle use have been met with concern over their impact on road safety. This has been coupled with the recognition that helmet effectiveness needs to be reviewed. Little recent research has been performed on helmet performance in real accidents and related injury risks in Australia. A retrospective study was undertaken at a major trauma centre in Sydney to examine the general profile of injuries and the risk of head, facial and neck injury with helmet use. The results of a sample of 214 casualties collected over a 12 month period showed that sixty (28%) riders sustained a head, face and neck injury, with 59 (27.6%) having suffered concussion. The cyclists had a mean age of 31 ± 13 years (range, 3 64 years). Of the 214 casualties, 21% of riders did not wear a helmet at the time of the crash. Wearing a helmet significantly lowered the risk of head, facial and neck injuries (Odds ratio = 0.2, 95% CI 0.1 to 0.43). Attempt was made to examine whether injury reduction was the same across all levels of impact by controlling the levels of injury severity. The logistic regression analysis only showed that helmet use significantly lowered the risk of minor to moderate head trauma. This study is part of a major prospective crash investigation study examining the performance of current bicycle and motorcycle helmets.