Cycle injury trends: helmets are most likely explanation

doi:10.1136/bmj.322.7299.1427

BMJ 2001;322:1427 ( 9 June )

Letters

Cycle injury trends: helmets are most likely explanation

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR $---$ We studied national trends in hospital admissions among English cyclists during 1991-5 and found significant reductionsin admissions of cyclists with head injury.¹ Data from annualsurveys of cycle helmet usage during this period indicate thatthe proportion of children always wearing a helmet increased from3% in 1991 to 20% in 1995,² this last figure correspondingwell with the 16% of cyclists observed wearing a helmet in a separatelarge survey in 1994.³ The total number of non-fatal seriouscycling injuries, however, remained constant during this time,leading us to conclude that the most plausible explanation forthe decline in serious head injuries was an increase in use ofcyclehelmets.

In response to our paper both Adams and Hillman and Wardlaw refer to data on fatalities among cyclists⁴; helmets are, however,less likely to be beneficial in the very serious injuries thatare potentially fatal since the . . . [Full text of this article]

CiteULike

Complore

Connotea

Del.icio.us Add to Digg

Digg

StumbleUpon Add to Technorati

Technorati What's this?

Relevant Article

Trends in serious head injuries among cyclists in England: analysis of routinely collected data: Adrian Cook and Aziz Sheikh
BMJ 2000 321: 1055. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

Park, G. R., Wilkins, M., Higgins, T. (2003). Brain stem death and organ donation--11 years on. Br J Anaesth 91: 577-579 [Abstract] [Full text]
Forjuoh, S. N., Fiesinger, T., Schuchmann, J. A., Mason, S. (2002). Helmet Use: A Survey of 4 Common Childhood Leisure Activities. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 156: 656-661 [Abstract] [Full text]