Pediatric all-terrain vehicle related temporal bone fractures

Objectives

To determine the prevalence of helmet use in children involved in all-terrain vehicles (ATV) accidents.

Study design

Retrospective chart review.

Setting

Tertiary Academic Medical Center.

Subjects and methods

Retrospective review was performed using the trauma registry of an academic tertiary medical center identifying ATV injured patients under 13 years of age between 2003-2008. Data regarding age, gender, ethnicity, driver/passenger status, helmet status, length of hospital stay, Glascow Coma Scale, Injury Severity Score, Abbreviated Injury Score, and presence of temporal bone fracture were analyzed.

Results

Seventy-four ATV injured pediatric subjects were identified. Average age was 8.6 years, 62% male, 38 were drivers, 32 were passengers. Helmet use data were available on 47 (64%) subjects, of these 9 (19%) wore helmets, and 38 (81%) were not wearing helmets. There was no observed statistical difference between helmeted and unhelmeted riders when comparing age, gender, ethnicity, driver/passenger status, length of hospital stay, Glascow Coma Scale (GCS), Injury Severity Score, Abbreviated Injury Score, or presence of temporal bone fracture.

Conclusions

This review found that documented helmet use in pediatric ATV injuries to be profoundly low (19%). Within our cohort no protective benefit from helmet use was identified, suggesting the inherent and potentially unalterable dangers of pediatric ATV recreation.