Facial Fracture Types in Motorcyclists with and without Helmet in Southeast of Iran

Motorcyclists are prone to face, neck, and head injuries. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of using or not using helmet on the different patterns of facial fractures. This descriptive cross sectional study was performed on the study population consisting of 127 traumatic motorcyclists referring to Shahid Bahonar Hospital, Kerman, Iran during the first six months of 2017. The subjects were selected by convenience sampling method. The demographic variables, including age and gender, in addition to the clinical variables, such as the type of fracture (single or multiple), fracture site in the mandible and midface were recorded in the study checklist. Out of 127 patients, 72.8% were male and 27.2% were female. It was revealed that 81 cases had fractures due to trauma to the maxilla and mandible. Moreover, 25.6% of the patients used helmet. The most frequent age group was 40-49.9 years with the frequency of 24.8%. Among the subjects, 44.4% and 55.6% of the motorcyclists had single and multiple fractures, respectively. The highest frequency in the mandibular fractures belonged to the body of mandible (26.3%), and the lowest frequency was related to coronoid of mandible (1.3%). The most frequent cases of fractures in the midface were Le Fort 1, Le Fort 2, and Le Fort 3 with the frequencies of 31.4%, 23.8%, and 16.3%, respectively. On the other hand, the least frequent fractures were seen in the orbital rim region (2.5%). There was no significant correlation between wearing helmet and the anatomical location of the maxilla fractures. However, wearing helmet was found to have a significant correlation with midface fractures. According to our results, the standard helmet had an optimal protective role in almost all facial fractures.