AI Article Synopsis
- Previous studies indicated that older adults are less protected by seat belts against fatal injuries, but this research aims to understand how age affects seat belt protection against severe injuries and torso injuries.
- Using data from the Crash Outcome Data Evaluation System, researchers analyzed the effectiveness of seat belts for different age groups in reducing risks of fatal injuries, severe injuries (MAIS 3+), and torso injuries through a matched cohort design.
- Findings revealed that while seat belts significantly reduce the risk of fatal injuries for all ages, their effectiveness in preventing serious injuries and torso injuries decreases as age increases, with notably lower protection for those aged 75 and older.
Article Abstract
Purpose: Previous studies have shown older adults receive relatively less protection from seat belts against fatal injuries, however it is unknown how seat belt protection against severe and torso injury changes with age. We estimated age-based variability in seat belt protection against fatal injuries, injuries with maximum abbreviated injury scale greater than two (MAIS 3+), and torso injuries.
Methods: We leveraged the Crash Outcome Data Evaluation System to analyze binary indicators of fatal, MAIS 3+, and torso injuries. Using a matched cohort design and conditional Poisson regression, we estimated age-based relative risks (RR) of the outcomes associated with seat belt use.
Results: Our results suggested that seat belts were highly protective against fatal injuries for all ages. For ages 16-30, seat belt use was associated with 66% lower risk of MAIS3+ injury (RR 0.34, 95% CI 0.30, 0.38) for occupants of the same vehicle, whereas for ages 75 and older, seat belt use was associated with 38% lower risk of MAIS3+ injury (RR 0.62; 95% CI 0.45, 0.86) for occupants in the same vehicle. The association between restraint use and torso injury also attenuated with age.
Conclusions: In multi-occupant crashes, seat belts were highly protective against fatal and MAIS3+ injury, however seat belt protection against MAIS3+ and torso injury attenuated with age.
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Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9912102 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.annepidem.2022.10.003 | DOI Listing |
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