Effect of Helmet Use on Injury Patterns

in Motorcycle-Related Trauma
FIGURE LEGEND
Table 1.
Demographics

Variable

%
Helmeted

%
Unhelmete
d

<0.000
1

Gender
Male
Female
Race
White
African American
Asian
Other
Not Hispanic or Latino
Hispanic or Latino

33.85
38.18

66.15
61.82
0.0039

34.53
33.7
30.12
35.46
37.94
40.35

65.47
66.3
69.88
64.54
62.06
59.65
<0.000
1

Primary Payer
Government related
insurance
Private insurance
Self-pay
Other

36.96

63.04

31.32
41.87
34.78

68.68
58.13
65.22
<0.000
1

Alcohol Use Disorder

No
Yes

33.13
54.09

66.87
45.91
<0.000
1

Current Smoker
No
Yes

pvalue

33.36
45.41

66.64
54.59

Table 2.
Outcome Metrics

Variable
Length of stay
Days in ICU
Days on
ventilator

Non-surgical patients
Helmeted
Unhelmeted
Mean
(days)
Mean (days)
p-value
3.80
4.20
<0.0001
<0.0001
4.24
4.33
<0.0001
5.44
4.92

Variable
Length of stay
Days in ICU
Days on
ventilator

Surgical patients
Helmeted
Unhelmeted
Mean
(days)
Mean (days)
p-value
<0.0001
10.31
11.20
<0.0001
8.16
8.62
<0.0001
8.26
8.65

Table 3.
Injury patterns (extrapolated from AIS)

Injury area

Severity

Head and neck

0
1-2
3-6
0
1-2
3-6
0
1-2
3-6
0
1-2
3-6

Trunk
Spine
Extremity

% Affected
Helmeted
61.05
22.06
16.89
52.24
16.77
30.99
77.37
20.69
1.94
19.82
59.25
20.93

% Affected
Unhelmeted
36.09
32.45
31.36
57.95
15.05
27.00
78.93
19.45
1.62
29.54
53.34
17.12

p-value
<0.0001
<0.0001
<0.0001
<0.0001

Table 4.
Procedures by ICD-9 subgroup

Procedure

% Helmeted

%
Unhelmeted

Bone

35.7

30.05

Skin

19.63

28.27

Vascular

10.79

14.35

Chest

8.37

8.28

Bladder

5.46

8.98

Other
Abdominal

3.14

2.91

Lung

2.48

3.53

Stomach

2.05

3.81

Splenectomy
Intestine
Hand
Liver
Renal
Hernia
Esophagus
Pancreas
Ureter
Heart

1.59
1.42
0.6
0.43
0.15
0.12
0.1
0.09
0.02
0.01

1.32
1.45
0.61
0.41
0.13
0.1
0.1
0.09
0.01
0.01

pvalue
<0.00
1
<0.00
1
<0.00
1
0.651
<0.00
1
<0.00
1
<0.00
1
<0.00
1
0.002
0.734
0.95
0.69
0.412
0.351
0.83
0.657
0.389
0.711