Impact of Helmet on Head Injury at Uhc Sylvanus Olympio of Lomé

Purpose: To assess the impact of helmet use on head injuries at the Sylvanus Olympio (SO) University Hospital in Lomé.
Materials and methods: A retrospective and comparative study on head injuries resulting from motorcycle accidents received at the CHU SO in Lomé from 1 June 2013 to 31 May 2015, the records of which were usable. Data collection was conducted from March 1 to April 30, 2019.
The parameters studied were: socio-demographic characteristics of patients, circumstances of occurrence, etiologies, wearing or not wearing a helmet before the accident, nature and degree of brain damage, therapeutic and evolutionary aspects.
Results: Out of 2,804 traumatized brain patients, 2,233 were victims of road accidents; of which 1,199 (51.4%) were motorcyclists.
239 files met the inclusion criteria.146 patients had worn a helmet before the accident (Group 1) and 93 had not won a helmet (Group 2). Males were dominant in both groups. Youth were most affected by accidents and mortality from head injuries. In both groups, the liberal profession was the most affected layer followed by the motorcycle taxi drivers.
Severe head trauma was most common in both groups: G1 and G2. Computed tomography (CT) scans found a significant difference in bone and brain lesions.
The evolution was favorable in 62.1% for group G1 and 57.4% for group G2 with a significant difference. The death rate for both groups was 37.9% and 42.6% respectively with a significant difference.
Conclusion: The wearing of helmets by motorcyclists therefore had a positive impact on the prognosis in case of head trauma. It must be integrated into habits to limit brain damage in the event of accidents and reduce mortality.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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The datasets used in this study are openly available at [repository link] and the source code is available on GitHub at [GitHub link].

This work did not receive any external funding.