INTRODUCTION

Motorcycle accidents are one of the most frequent causes of trauma. Safety devices and helmets can influence the severity of injuries. Our retrospective study wants to evaluate the different effectiveness of Open-face and Full-face helmets in the prevention of craniofacial trauma.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The sample consists of 440 patients admitted to two Level I Trauma Centres in Northern Italy, between January 2002 and February 2019, because of motorcycle-related craniofacial trauma. For each patient personal data were collected, as well as type and site of fractures, type of helmet, if worn, Comprehensive Facial Injury (CFI) score and Abbreviated Injury Score (AIS-Head) for head injuries. Inferential statistical analysis was then conducted.

RESULTS

Two hundred and eighty-eight patients wore Open-face helmets (69.7%) and 125 patients wore Full-face ones (30.3%). Mean CFI score (Standard deviation - SD) observed in patients with Open-face helmets was 7.0 (SD: 6.8) and surgery was required in 149 cases (51.7%); while it was 4.9 (SD: 6.0) in patients with Full-face helmets for whom surgery was required in 43 cases (34.4%) ( < 0.0001 and = 0.002, respectively). Multivariate analysis shows that severity of facial trauma is a significant risk factor for head injury severity with OR 1.90 (95% confidence interval: 1.43 - 2.51) and < 0.0001.

DISCUSSION

Full-face helmets are definitely considered to be more protective for facial trauma, which is also a significant risk factor for the severity of head injuries. The type of helmet chosen influences the need of surgical treatment in case of craniofacial trauma.