Bicycle helmet use in the United States has remained low despite clear demonstration of its beneficial effect on reducing the incidence of serious head injury. Several interventions have been reported, with variable results and costs. Much of the recent literature has focused on child cyclists and on demographic factors associated with helmet use. This paper reports on helmet use by children and adults in a sample of 652 riders in an affluent southeast Michigan region, chosen to minimize the effect of previously recognized socioeconomic negative predictors that are not readily changed by intervention. Subjects were classified by age, sex, location, riding surface, type of bicycle, child bicycle seat use, child bicycle trailer use, and helmet use by companions. Overall helmet use was 24 percent; infants and toddlers had the highest rate of helmet use at 61 percent, followed by adults at 26 percent and school-aged children at 17 percent. The strongest predictor of helmet use in all age categories was the presence of a helmeted companion. Adult helmet use was also positively predicted by riding in the street and by riding a racing-type bicycle. The use of a city-type bicycle negatively predicted helmet use. For non-adults, female sex and the use of a child seat or trailer were positive predictors. Fostering peer pressure to increase helmet use may be an effective yet relatively inexpensive way to achieve the goal of widespread use of bicycle helmets.
Bostelman, S; Callan, M; Rolincik, L C; Gantt, M; Herink, M; King, J; Massey, M K; Morehouse, D; Sopata, T; Turner, J;
Published Date:
1994 Mar-Apr
Source:
Public Health Rep. 109(2):153-157
Description:
Rehospitalization of mentally ill persons has been associated mainly with two major factors, noncompliance with the prescribed course of medication and noncompliance with planned aftercare. The authors developed and pilot tested a community health pr...
McCusker, J; Willis, G; McDonald, M; Lewis, B F; Sereti, S M; Feldman, Z T;
Published Date:
1994 Mar-Apr
Source:
Public Health Rep. 109(2):212-218
Description:
The outcomes of counseling and testing programs related to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and risk of infection among injection drug users (IDUs) are not well known or understood. A counseling and testing outcome of potential public hea...
Palfrey, J S; Haynie, M; Porter, S; Fenton, T; Cooperman-Vincent, P; Shaw, D; Johnson, B; Bierle, T; Walker, D K;
Published Date:
1994 Mar-Apr
Source:
Public Health Rep. 109(2):226-233
Description:
In 1987 and 1990 in Massachusetts, surveys were conducted to determine the size, pattern of distribution, and trends in the population of children assisted by medical technology. The authors obtained an unduplicated count of all Massachusetts childre...
Graduates of MEDEX Northwest, the physician assistant training program at the University of Washington, were surveyed to describe differences between physician assistants practicing in rural settings and those practicing in urban settings. Difference...
The question of identifying and treating childhood illness confronts all new parents. Misconceptions often lead parents to manage illnesses in their young children inappropriately through overly aggressive treatment or insufficient attention. This re...
Teenagers are a crucial target group for interventions concerning acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Experimenting with their burgeoning sexuality and increased ability to obtain drugs, they are prime ca...
Increasingly, public health interventions are dependent on effective health communications. There are, however, few data examining the relationship and interactions between local public health officers and representatives of the media in the literatu...
Frank mental disorders, such as depression and panic disorder, are prevalent in primary care; they cause people substantial suffering and interfere with daily functioning. Even subthreshold or "subsyndromal" conditions, with fewer symptoms than neces...
The American public saved more than $39 billion (1990 dollars) in dental expenditures from 1979 through 1989 in contrast to the substantial increases in expenditures in other sectors of the U.S. health care system that have pushed the system to the b...
Violence is devastating the lives of children in America's major cities. The problem of violence is particularly acute among disadvantaged young urban males. This program focuses on violence prevention in school-age boys using creative educational te...
The purpose of the study is to determine the educational needs of public health officials concerning their knowledge, attitude, beliefs, and practices with specific reference to ionizing radiation. The public health directors or designates, working i...
Onorato, Ida M.; Gwinn, Marta; Dondero, Timothy J.;
Published Date:
1994 Mar-Apr
Source:
Public Health Rep. 109(2):204-211
Description:
The CDC Family of Surveys is a national serologic surveillance system set up to characterize the extent of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in the United States. The now Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and participating S...
Sugarman, Jonathan R.; Brenneman, George; LaRoque, William; Warren, Charles W.; Goldberg, Howard I.;
Published Date:
1994 Mar-Apr
Source:
Public Health Rep. 109(2):243-250
Description:
Although more than two-thirds of American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI) live outside reservations and Tribal lands, few data sets describe social and maternal-child health risk factors among urban AI. The Indian Health Service sponsored a special e...
Thacker, Stephen B.; Koplan, Jeffrey P.; Taylor, William R.; Hinman, Alan R.; Katz, Martha F.; Roper, William L.;
Published Date:
1994 Mar-Apr
Source:
Public Health Rep. 109(2):187-194
Description:
The measure of the effectiveness of health promotion and disease prevention activities is the impact of prevention policies, programs, and practices on public health and clinical medicine. Assessing prevention effectiveness involves continuing quanti...
Agócs, Mary M.; Trent, Roger B.; Russell, Deborah M.;
Published Date:
1994 Mar-Apr
Source:
Public Health Rep. 109(2):290-295
Description:
Statewide surveillance in California determined that the highest drowning rate from 1980 through 1989 was for the rural, desert county of Imperial (21.9 drownings per 100,000 population). To identify activities associated with drowning in this county...
Knowing the reasons some physicians do not adhere to the disease prevention and treatment recommendations of expert committees can assist in the development of future recommendations more likely to be adopted by physicians. The authors describe the a...
This study investigated the self-reported awareness of the presence of product warning messages and signs among random samples of Hispanics in San Francisco surveyed in 1990 and in 1991. The messages that were tested related to cigarettes, alcoholic ...
Most of the nearly 1,000 fatal bicycle-related injuries annually could be prevented if riders used safety helmets. Helmet use by adult bicyclists has received relatively little attention because educational campaigns to promote helmet use generally f...
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (U.S.)
Published Date:
February 17, 1995
Series:
MMWR. Recommendations and reports : Morbidity and mortality weekly report. Recommendations and reports ; v. 44, no. RR-1
Description:
These recommendations on the use of bicycle helmets are the first in a series of Injury-Control Recommendations that are designed for state and local health departments or other organizations for use in planning injury control programs. Each publicat...
Roehler, Douglas R.; Ear, Chariya; Parker, Erin M.; Sem, Panhavuth; Ballesteros, Michael F.;
Published Date:
Feb 05 2014
Source:
Int J Inj Contr Saf Promot. 22(2):165-171.
Description:
This study examines the risk characteristics of fatal motorcycle crashes in Cambodia over a 5-year period (2007-2011). Secondary data analyses were conducted using the Cambodia Road Crash and Victim Information System, the only comprehensive and inte...
Hatziandreu, E J; Sacks, J J; Brown, R; Taylor, W R; Rosenberg, M L; Graham, J D;
Published Date:
1995 May-Jun
Source:
Public Health Rep. 110(3):251-259
Description:
Each year in the United States, 280 children die from bicycle crashes and 144,000 are treated for head injuries from bicycling. Although bicycle helmets reduce the risk of head injury by 85 percent, few children wear them. To help guide the choice of...
The researchers undertook to identify the factors that are most likely to influence children's intentions to use bicycle helmets. To determine the most important intention influencing factors, a random sample of 797 students in grades 4 through 6 com...
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