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.