The Preventive Effect of Head Injury by Helmet Type in Motorcycle Crashes: A Rural Korean Single-Center Observational Study

Abstract

Introduction. The goal of this study was to determine the preventive effect on head injury by helmet type: full face helmet (FFH), open face helmet (OFH), and half-coverage helmet (HCH). Methods. This is a retrospective observational study of motorcycle crash victims between June 2012 and May 2015 in a rural town in Korea. We performed multiple linear regression to predict the effect of each type of helmet compared to unhelmeted status in preventing head injury using dependent variables based on the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) and applied logistic regression modeling to compare the incidence of head injury. Results. Of the 738 patients, the number of FFH patients was 33.5%, followed by unhelmeted (27.8%), OFH (17.6%), and HCH (13.0%) patients. The FFH and OFH group had a lower head maximum AIS than unhelmeted group (coefficient: −0.368, 95% CI: −0.559 to −0.177 and coefficient: −0.235, 95% CI: −0.459 to −0.010, resp.) and only FFHs experienced a reduction effect of severe and minor head injury (OR: 0.206, 95% CI: 0.080 to 0.533 and OR: 0.589, 95% CI: 0.377 to 0.920, resp.). Conclusions. FFHs and OFHs reduce the risk of head injury, and FFHs have a more preventive effect on head injury in motorcycle crashes.

Analysis of Injury Patterns of Motorcycle Riders Admitted to Teaching Hospital, Karapitiya, Sri Lanka

“…[26] National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has emphasized the importance of proper helmet usage according to international helmet laws based on analysis of fatal motorcycle crashes in USA, [27] and the fact of the proper helmet usage and the reduction of head injury and its severity is well established in the literature. [26,28] However, there is no significant difference between the presence of external head injury in helmeted and non-helmeted groups in our study, but 83% of internal head injuries were seen with non-helmeted riders. The fact of the use of helmet by the riders of this study has been determined by the Police investigation records as well as some characteristic injuries to the chin due to the buckle of the helmet strap.…”

Effect of motorcycle helmet types on head injuries: evidence from eight level-I trauma centres in Taiwan

“…Studies conducted in Western countries and Taiwan [17,[20][21][22][23][24][25] have reported that full-coverage helmets protect from head injuries. In line with previous results, our results indicated that standard helmets have a highly protective role.…”

“…Studies have attempted to examine the effects of different helmet types on head and neck injuries. For example, studies [17][18][19][20][21][22] have reported that riders wearing open-face or half helmets had an increased risk of sustaining facial and neck injuries compared with riders wearing full-face helmets. Rice et al [23] concluded that novelty helmet or nonstandard helmet use was associated with an increased risk of fatal injuries compared with full-face helmet use after adjustment for speed and other risk factors.…”

Novelty helmet use and motorcycle rider fatality

“…More recently, Sung et al (2016) reported that full-face and open-face helmets reduced the occurrence and severity of head injuries in Korea, whereas half-helmets did not.…”