Skiers and Snowboarders Need Helmets

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Skiers and snowboarders should wear helmets to protect themselves from traumatic brain injuries, according to a new report.

Head injuries account for only a small number of total injuries among skiers and snowboarders, yet they are the number one cause of death and serious injury for people engaged in these sports, according to lead study author Dr. A. Stewart Levy of Saint Anthony Central Hospital in Denver, Colorado, and his colleagues.

"Because most traumatic brain injuries treated at our facility resulted from a direct impact mechanism, we believe that the use of helmets can reduce the incidence and severity of head injuries occurring on the ski slopes," they write.

Their conclusion is based on an analysis of data on head injuries that occurred on ski slopes from 1982 to 1998. The data were collected from a Colorado trauma center located near several ski resorts.

Overall, 1,214 skiers and snowboarders were admitted to the trauma center during the study period, and nearly 30% of them had traumatic head injuries, Levy's team reports in the October issue of The Journal of Trauma: Injury, Infection, and Critical Care.

In nearly half (47%) of the cases, the injury was due to a skier or snowboarder's collision with a tree or other stationary object. Forty percent of the patients were injured in a simple or major fall, while the rest were hurt in collisions with other skiers.

Skier-tree collisions were the most common cause of injury and were also responsible for the most severe injuries, the report indicates.

In fact, roughly 7% of the skiers and snowboarders injured in skier-tree collisions died, in comparison to less than 2% of those injured in simple falls. In total, 14 skiers and snowboarders died during the study period.

Men were more than twice as likely to suffer a head injury than women, and skiers and snowboarders younger than 35 had three times the head injury risk of those 35 and older.

Still, injuries were more severe among the older patients, who generally fared worse than their younger peers, the researchers note.

Finally, snowboarders were three times more likely to experience head injuries than skiers.

Only one patient was wearing a helmet at the time of injury, the report indicates. That patient did not require a hospital stay and fully recovered after being treated for a mild concussion.

According to a recent report by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), helmet use could prevent or reduce the severity of 44% of head injuries sustained by adult skiers and snowboarders. Based on that finding, the safety experts recommend that skiers and snowboarders wear helmets.

"We agree with the conclusion of the CPSC report and feel certain that there is significant potential to reduce the incidence and severity of head injuries on the ski slopes through more widespread use of ski helmets," Levy and his team conclude.

SOURCE: The Journal of Trauma 2002;53:695-704.

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