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 Researchers reviewed trauma records for 7,678 bike accidents
involving kids under 16 and found just 22 percent of them wore
helmets at all.
Riding without a helmet was more common among kids insured by
Medicaid, the government health insurance program for the poor, and
less typical among children covered by private insurance, often
provided by employers. Skipping the helmet was also more likely
among black and minority children.
“Our findings are unfortunate but not surprising,” said lead study
author Dr. Obinna Adibe, a researcher in pediatric surgery at Duke
University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. “Head injuries
are the most lethal type of injury in these children, and one of the
most common.”
In the U.S., more than 3 million people a year are treated in
emergency departments for cycling injuries, and more than 300
children die from these crashes, Obinna and colleagues write in the
journal Surgery.
The majority of cycling deaths are related to traumatic head
injuries, which can be minimized or prevented by helmets, the
researchers note.
They reviewed accident records from the National Trauma Database
during the years 2007, 2010 and 2011 to see what differentiated
children who wore helmets from kids who didn’t.
Half of the children in the study were at least 11 years old, and
children who rode without helmets were slightly older.
Black children were 62 percent less likely to be wearing a helmet at
the time of their accident than white children.
Kids insured by Medicaid had 67 percent lower odds of helmet use
than children with private coverage, suggesting a disparity based on
income.
Children injured in accidents in the Midwest and the Southern
regions of the U.S. were also less likely to be wearing helmets than
kids in the Northeast, the study found.
One shortcoming of the study is that it only looked at children
injured seriously enough to require a hospital visit, which may have
led to a sample of children who are more reckless riders and less
likely to wear helmets, Adibe said by email.
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“Overall helmet use rates would be somewhat higher because a
non-helmeted rider is more likely to be injured,” said Dr. Greg
Parkinson a pediatrician and injury prevention specialist in
Falmouth, Massachusetts.
Disparities in helmet use based on race and income aren’t surprising
because inequality persists across many other types of childhood
injury, Parkinson, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by email.
Bike helmet giveaways have effectively reduced injuries in cities
including Seattle, New York and Boston, Adibe said. These programs,
as well as state laws mandating helmet use, can help overcome the
cost barrier that keeps some parents from getting helmets for their
children.
“In states without laws mandating helmet use, parents may see
purchasing a helmet as an unnecessary expense,” Adibe said. “As far
as the racial difference, this is partially socioeconomic, partially
institutional bias in overall education of black children in our
country.”
Parents should also set a good example for children by wearing
helmets themselves, Parkinson added.
“Bike helmets save lives and prevent serious brain injuries,”
Parkinson said. “It is essential for children to wear helmets, and
equally essential for parents to protect themselves and model good
behavior for their children to emulate.”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1S4SQVb Surgery, online June 1, 2015.
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