Powered two-wheelers (PTWs – mopeds, motorcycles, and scooters) remain the most dangerous form oftravel on today’s roads. This study used hospital discharge data from eight European countries to examinethe frequencies and patterns of injury among PTW users (age ? 14 years), the predicted incidence of theloss of functional ability, and the mechanisms of the head injuries observed (all in light of increased helmetuse). Of 977,557 injured patients discharged in 2004, 12,994 were identified as having been injured inPTW collisions. Lower extremity injuries accounted for 26% (25.6–26.7, 95% C.I.) of the total injuries,followed by upper extremity injuries (20.7%: 20.3–21.2), traumatic brain injuries (TBI) (18.5%: 18–19), andthoracic injuries (8.2%: 7.8–8.5). Approximately 80% of the lower extremity injury cases were expectedto exhibit some functional disability one year following discharge (predicted Functional Capacity Index,pFCI-AIS98 < 100), compared to 47% of the upper extremity injury cases and 24% of the TBI cases. Althoughit occurred less frequently, patients that were expected to experience some functional limitation fromTBI were predicted to fair worse on average (lose more functional ability) than patients expected tohave functional limitations from extremity injuries. Cerebral concussion was the most common headinjury observed (occurring in 56% of head injury cases), with most concussion cases (78%) exhibitingno other head injury. Among the AIS3+ head injuries that could be mapped to an injury mechanism,48% of these were associated with a translational-impact mechanism, and 37% were associated with arotational mechanism. The observation of high rates of expected long-term disability suggests that futureefforts aim to mitigate lower and upper extremity injuries among PTW users. Likewise, the high rates ofconcussion and head injuries associated with a rotational mechanism provide goals for the next phase ofPTW user head protection. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting