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Journal Article

Citation

Meehan WP, Lee LK, Fischer CM, Mannix RC. J. Pediatr. 2013; 163(3): 726-729.

Affiliation

Micheli Center for Sports Injury Prevention, Waltham, MA; Sports Concussion Clinic, Division of Sports Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA; Brain Injury Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA; Division of Emergency Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA. Electronic address: concussion.sportsmed@childrens.harvard.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jpeds.2013.03.073

PMID

23706604

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To assess the association between bicycle helmet legislation and bicycle-related deaths sustained by children involved in bicycle-motor vehicle collisions. STUDY DESIGN: We conducted a cross-sectional study of all bicyclists aged 0-16 years included in the Fatality Analysis Reporting System who died between January 1999 and December 2010. We compared fatality rates in age-specific state populations between states with helmet laws and those without helmet laws. We used a clustered Poisson multivariate regression model to adjust for factors previously associated with rates of motor vehicle fatalities: elderly driver licensure laws, legal blood alcohol limit (<0.08% vs ≥0.08%), and household income. RESULTS: A total of 1612 bicycle-related fatalities sustained by children aged <16 years were evaluated. There were no statistically significant differences in median household income, the proportion of states with elderly licensure laws, or the proportion of states with a blood alcohol limit of >0.08% between states with helmet laws and those without helmet laws. The mean unadjusted fatality rate was lower in states with helmet laws (2.0/1 000 000 vs 2.5/1 000 000; P = .03). After adjusting for potential confounding factors, lower fatality rates persisted in states with mandatory helmet laws (adjusted incidence rate ratio, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.70-0.98). CONCLUSION: Bicycle helmet safety laws are associated with a lower incidence of fatalities in child cyclists involved in bicycle-motor vehicle collisions.


Language: en

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