Citation

Carone L, Ardley R, Davies P. Injury 2019; 50(1): 61-64.

Affiliation

Paediatric Critical Care Unit, Nottingham Children's Hospital, United Kingdom; University of Nottingham, United Kingdom. Electronic address: Patrick.davies@nuh.nhs.uk.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.injury.2018.08.015

PMID

30197205

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Traumatic injury is the leading cause of death in children after infancy. Almost 25% of all cyclists killed in the UK are children, and two thirds of these will die because of their head injuries. We compared the population of young people wearing helmets whilst cycling, to those admitted with serious post cycling head injuries to our paediatric critical care unit.

METHOD: All children aged 0-18 years admitted to our intensive care following a bicycle accident between the years January 2011-June 2018 were identified and information on the mechanism of injury, and both immediate and long term clinical data were collected. For comparison data, helmet wearing on a random morning was observed from six schools. All pupils arriving at school by bicycle were observed. Data collected included the school year and sex of the child, and whether each child was wearing a helmet or not.

RESULTS: Of 28 cases, 22 were admitted due to head injuries. None wore a helmet. 23/133 school pupils wore a helmet. The intensive care population were significantly less likely to be wearing helmets than the general population (p = 0.044, Fisher's exact test). A Chi-Square test for helmet wearing by school year showed a reduction in helmet wearing with increasing school year with a p value of 0.0026. There was no association between helmet wearing and abdominal injury.

CONCLUSION: Young people admitted to a Critical Care Unit with cycling related head trauma are statistically significantly less likely to wear a helmet than the general, age matched cycling population. Helmet wearing decreases as children get older. Outcomes were mixed, but in the head trauma group only 3/18 recovered with no neurological deficit.

Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Bike safety; Head injury; Helmets; Intensive care; Neurological deficit