TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2005//
TI  - Severe upper extremity injuries in frontal automobile crashes: The effects of depowered airbags
JO  - American journal of emergency medicine
A1  - Jernigan, M. Virginia
A1  - Rath, Amber L.
A1  - Duma, Stefan M.
SP  - 99
EP  - 105
VL  - 23
IS  - 2
N2  - Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of depowered frontal airbags on the incidence of severe upper extremity injuries. Methods: The National Automotive Sampling System database files from 1993 to 2000 were examined in a study that included 2,413,347 occupants who were exposed to an airbag deployment in the United States. Results: Occupants exposed to a depowered airbag deployment were significantly more likely to sustain a severe upper extremity injury (3.9%) than those occupants exposed to a full-powered airbag deployment (2.5%) ( P = .01). Full-powered systems resulted in an injury distribution of 89.2% fractures and 7.9% dislocations compared with depowered systems with 55.3% fractures and 44.3% dislocations. Conclusions: Although depowered airbags were designed to reduce the risk of injuries, they appear to have increased the overall incidence of severe upper extremity injuries through a shift from long bone fractures to joint dislocations.
LA  - 
SN  - 0735-6757
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ID  - ref1
ER  -