228888 A Systematic Review of Bicycle Helmet Studies and Recommendations for Future Research

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Michelle L. Cathorall, MPH, CHES , Department of Public Health Education, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC
Purpose: Reviews of studies from the public health and injury prevention literature suggest that bicycle helmet research has improved in the last decade, however there remains important gaps across bicycle helmet studies. This paper will review studies of bicycle helmet use and will recommend future directions for research in the US.

Methods: Peer-reviewed publications that were in English, published between 1986-2009, and focused on children under 18 years of age were reviewed and synthesized. A critical analysis of the literature was conducted and gaps identified.

Results: The use and effectiveness of helmets has been extensively studied. Helmets have been shown to greatly reduce the risk of injury. Few studies have examined group differences in helmet use related to gender and cultural influences. Statistical analysis of studies lags behind other areas of injury prevention.

Conclusions: Bicycle helmet studies must place helmet use in a broader context to understand whether there are gender and cultural differences. Multilevel modeling is needed to account for the influence of nesting and repeated measures in studies.

Learning Objectives:
1. Describe the scope of current studies 2. Describe characteristics of bicycle helmet studies 3. Assess gaps in bicycle helmet studies

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a third year DrPH student in Public Health and the work presented in this abstract is part of my dissertation.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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