The Preventive Effect of Head Injury by Helmet Type in Motorcycle Crashes: A Rural Korean Single-Center Observational Study

Introduction. The goal of this study was to determine the preventive effect on head injury by helmet type: full face helmet (FFH), open face helmet (OFH), and half-coverage helmet (HCH). Methods. This is a retrospective observational study of motorcycle crash victims between June 2012 and May 2015 in a rural town in Korea. We performed multiple linear regression to predict the effect of each type of helmet compared to unhelmeted status in preventing head injury using dependent variables based on the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) and applied logistic regression modeling to compare the incidence of head injury. Results. Of the 738 patients, the number of FFH patients was 33.5%, followed by unhelmeted (27.8%), OFH (17.6%), and HCH (13.0%) patients. The FFH and OFH group had a lower head maximum AIS than unhelmeted group (coefficient: −0.368, 95% CI: −0.559 to −0.177 and coefficient: −0.235, 95% CI: −0.459 to −0.010, resp.) and only FFHs experienced a reduction effect of severe and minor head injury (OR: 0.206, 95% CI: 0.080 to 0.533 and OR: 0.589, 95% CI: 0.377 to 0.920, resp.). Conclusions. FFHs and OFHs reduce the risk of head injury, and FFHs have a more preventive effect on head injury in motorcycle crashes.