Table 3.
Injury types and outcomes for those experiencing head injuries according to helmet use
| Helmet use | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yes (N = 87) | No (N = 224) | Unknown (N = 189) | ||
| Characteristic | No. (%) | No. (%) | No. (%) | p value† |
| Type of injuryab | ||||
| Laceration | 43 (49.4) | 90 (40.2) | 93 (49.2) | 0.139 |
| Contusion | 29 (33.3) | 91 (40.6) | 52 (27.5) | 0.236 |
| Abrasion | 41 (47.1) | 123 (54.9) | 80 (42.3) | 0.217 |
| Fracture | 8 (9.2) | 15 (6.7) | 4 (14.8) | 0.445 |
| Brain injury | 12 (13.8) | 63 (28.1) | 22 (11.6) | 0.008 |
| Other | 17 (19.5) | 46 (20.5) | 33 (17.5) | 0.845 |
| Outcomes | ||||
| Head CT/X-ray obtainedb | 10 (11.5) | 72 (32.1) | 28 (14.8) | <0.001 |
| Hospitalizationb | 3 (3.4) | 19 (8.5) | 5 (2.6) | 0.144 |
| PICU admissionc | 0 (0.0) | 6 (2.7) | 0 (0.0) | 0.191 |
| Permanent neurologic injuryc | 0 (0.0) | 3 (1.3) | 1 (0.5) | 0.562 |
| Post traumatic seizurec | 0 (0.0) | 2 (0.9) | 1 (0.5) | >0.99 |
| Need for mechanical ventilationc | 0 (0.0) | 3 (1.3) | 0 (0.0) | 0.562 |
| Mortalityc | 0 (0.0) | 2 (0.9) | 0 (0.0) | >0.99 |
†Chi-square or Fisher’s exact test comparing the frequency of the given event between those wearing a helmet vs. not. Those with unknown helmet use are excluded from this comparison
aPatients may have had multiple injury types or experienced multiple outcomes
bComparison performed using chi-square test
cComparison performed using Fisher’s exact test