School of Public Health, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Accid Anal Prev. 2011 May;43(3):788-96. doi: 10.1016/j.aap.2010.10.026. Epub 2010 Nov 26.
Bicycle helmets reduce fatal and non-fatal head and face injuries. This study evaluated the effect of mandatory bicycle helmet legislation targeted at those less than 18 years old on helmet use for all ages in Alberta.
Two comparable studies were conducted two years before and four years after the introduction of helmet legislation in Alberta in 2002. Bicyclists were observed in randomly selected sites in Calgary and Edmonton and eight smaller communities from June to October. Helmet wearing and rider characteristics were recorded by trained observers. Poisson regression adjusting for clustering by site was used to obtain helmet prevalence (HP) and prevalence ratio (PR) (2006 vs. 2000) estimates.
There were 4002 bicyclists observed in 2000 and 5365 in 2006. Overall, HP changed from 75% to 92% among children, 30% to 63% among adolescents and 52% to 55% among adults. Controlling for city, location, companionship, neighborhood age proportion <18, socioeconomic status, and weather conditions, helmet use increased 29% among children (PR = 1.29; 95% CI: 1.20-1.39), over 2-fold among adolescents (PR 2.12; 95% CI: 1.75-2.56), and 14% among adults: (PR = 1.14; CI: 1.02-1.27).
Bicycle helmet legislation was associated with a greater increase in helmet use among the target age group (<18). Though HP increased over 2-fold among adolescents to an estimated 63% in 2006, this percentage was approximately 30% lower than among children <13.
自行车头盔可降低致命和非致命的头部和面部伤害。本研究评估了针对 18 岁以下人群的强制性自行车头盔法规对艾伯塔省所有年龄段头盔使用的影响。
在 2002 年艾伯塔省引入头盔法规的两年前和四年后，进行了两项可比研究。在卡尔加里和埃德蒙顿以及八个较小的社区的随机地点，在 6 月至 10 月期间观察骑自行车的人。受过培训的观察员记录头盔佩戴情况和骑车人特征。使用泊松回归调整地点聚类，得出头盔佩戴率（HP）和流行率比值（PR）（2006 年与 2000 年）估计值。
在 2000 年观察到 4002 名骑自行车的人，在 2006 年观察到 5365 名。总体而言，儿童的 HP 从 75%变为 92%，青少年从 30%变为 63%，成年人从 52%变为 55%。在控制城市、地点、同伴、18 岁以下人群比例、社会经济地位和天气条件后，儿童头盔使用率增加了 29%（PR=1.29；95%CI：1.20-1.39），青少年增加了两倍多（PR 2.12；95%CI：1.75-2.56），成年人增加了 14%（PR=1.14；CI：1.02-1.27）。
自行车头盔法规与目标年龄组（<18 岁）的头盔使用率增加有关。尽管青少年的 HP 增加了两倍多，达到 2006 年的估计值 63%，但这一比例比 13 岁以下儿童低约 30%。
