Sport-Related Traumatic Brain Injury with and without Helmets in Children.

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Sport-Related Traumatic Brain Injury with and without Helmets in Children.

World Neurosurg. 2017 Dec 22;:

Authors: Bandte A, Fritzsche FS, Emami P, Kammler G, Püschel K, Krajewski K

Abstract
BACKGROUND: Soccer, bicycling and horseback riding are sports most commonly associated with traumatic brain injury (TBI) in Germany. The latter are commonly practiced with helmets and data on helmet use and usefulness vary widely.
METHODS: After ethics approval, retrospective analysis was performed for patients ages 5-17 from 01/2009- 08/2014 based on the diagnosis TBI using the electronic patient file for both university hospital locations. Descriptive data analysis, multi- and univariate logistic regression were employed to calculate the odds ratio.
RESULTS: A total of 380 children were identified. 162(42.6%) were female and 218(57.4%) were male. Mean age was 11.9±3.8 years. Activities included bicycling (n=64), horseback riding (n=19), and soccer (n=16). A helmet was documented as used in n=26 (14 cyclists, 12 riders), and documented as not used in n=20 (all cyclists). Helmet use was associated with a trend of lower odds of loss of consciousness by 0.7 (CI:0.18-2.52) compared to not wearing a helmet. N=251 patients with non-sports-related TBI (NSTBI) served as a control group for further analyses: the odds of amnesia after a riding accident was 2.9x (CI:1.1-21.6) higher and for bicycling 4.8 (CI:0.3-239) higher than NSTBI. The odds of epidural hematoma was 2.2x (CI:0.4-12.3) higher for cycling and 4.9x (CI:0.5-50.4) higher for soccer compared to NSTBI.
CONCLUSION: We gained important epidemiological data on pediatric TBI in our region. Despite the descriptive nature of the data, a trend towards a reduction in the odds for loss of consciousness was shown in helmet-wearers. Nevertheless, serious injury can occur despite helmet use.

PMID: 29277588 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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