P074: Impact of wearing a helmet on the risk of hospitalization after a sport injury

Abstract

Introduction: Six Canadian provinces recently made bicycle helmet mandatory and subsequent data concerning hospitalization rates after head injuries in cyclists were controversial. Furthermore, there remains an important proportion of participants who don’t wear a helmet in sporting activity. We thus wanted to estimate the impact of helmet use in sport injuries on the risk of hospitalization. Methods: Study participants were patients of all age presenting at the emergency department of the Hôpital de l’Enfant-Jésus du CHU de Québec for a trauma that occurred in a sport in which it’s possible to wear a helmet. Data were collected from information provided by the patient and from the Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program’ (CHIRPP) database. Descriptive and multivariate analyses have been carried out using these data. We performed binomial logistic regression analyzes to estimate the risk adjusted for potentially confounding variables: age, sex and number of injuries. Results: Most patients included in the study (n=169) were males (69.8%) aged between 10 and 30 years (50.3%). Sports most frequently involved in trauma were cycling (31.4%), downhill skiing (18.3%), snowboarding (14.8%), hockey (11.8%), and skateboarding (5.9%). Overall, 70.4% of patients were wearing a helmet at the time of injury. Helmet use in sports was associated with a reduction of 52% of the risk of hospitalization (RR: 0.48 [CI: 95%: 0.25-0.93]) after a trauma. In addition, patients not wearing a helmet had higher proportions of intracranial hemorrhage (10% vs. 1.7%) and skull fracture (8% vs 2.5%). Conclusion: Results suggest that helmet use decreases the risk of hospitalization for trauma sustained in sports in which it’s possible to wear a helmet.