Helmets reduce risk of head injuries on the slopes

Last Updated: 2006-02-21 16:13:23 -0400 (Reuters Health)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Strap on a helmet before strapping on your snowboard or skis this winter, experts from Norway advise, based on the results of their study released today showing that wearing a helmet significantly reduces the risk of head injury among alpine skiers and snowboarders.

Although common sense holds that wearing a helmet will reduce the risk of head injuries in alpine sports, but this effect has not been proven, Dr. Steinar Sulheim, of the Norwegian School of Sports Sciences in Oslo and colleagues note in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

To investigate, they analyzed helmet use in the winter of 2002 among 3,277 skiers and snowboarders who sustained an injury on the slopes and 2,992 who did not.

Head injuries made up nearly 18 percent of all the injuries sustained by the injured skiers and snowboarders. Overall, using a helmet was associated with a 60-percent reduction in the risk for head injury, the team reports.

Wearing a helmet cut the risk of sustaining a potentially severe head injury on the slopes by 57 percent. Helmets may also protect skiers and snowboarders from neck injuries, the report hints.

The protective effect of helmet use on the risk of head injuries was consistent across groups of skiers and snowboarders. However, Sulheim's team found that factors associated with increased risk of head injury on the slopes were snowboarders, beginners, young people and male sex.

According to the report, snowboarders face a 53 percent higher risk of sustaining a head injury than do alpine skiers.]

Several million people worldwide participate in alpine skiing and snowboarding, Sulheim and colleagues note in their report. Head injury is the most common reason for hospital admission and the most common cause of death among skiers and snowboarders.

Overall, helmet use is generally low among recreational skiers and snowboarders, although children are more apt to use helmets than are adults. Although helmets are required for competitive skiers in the Federation Internationale de Ski World Cup, the use of helmets is not currently mandatory for recreational skiers and boarders.

SOURCE: Journal of the American Medical Association, February 22, 2006.