SynthesisCMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne2010
The effect of helmets on the risk of head and neck injuries among skiers and snowboarders: a meta-analysis.
Synthesis in CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 40 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
40 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The Impacts of Sports Schools on Holistic Athlete Development: A Mixed Methods Systematic Review.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2022Pooled it
- Incidence of injuries in professional snow sports: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of sport and health science · 2022Pooled it
- Recreational Snow-Sports Injury Risk Factors and Countermeasures: A Meta-Analysis Review and Haddon Matrix Evaluation.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2015Pooled it
- Associated factors, nonlinear risk patterns and effect heterogeneity of severe injuries in recreational skiers and snowboarders.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Epidemiology of paediatric winter sports-related injuries in France: The WINTRAUMA-1 retrospective cohort study.Acta paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992) · 2025Observational
- Article
- Impact of Environmental Factors on the ACL Injury Risk in Recreational Alpine Skiing.International journal of sports medicine · 2023Article
- Effectiveness of an injury prevention video on risky behaviours in youth snow sports: A randomized controlled trial.Paediatrics & child health · 2023Article
- Article
- Article
- Improving Spatial Hearing when Wearing Ski Helmets in Order to Increase Safety on Ski Slopes.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- [Traumatic brain injuries in winter sports : An overview based on the winter sports skiing, snowboarding and ice hockey].Orthopadie (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2022Review
- The Influence of Protective Headgear on the Visual Field of Recreational-Level Skiers.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Ski-geometric parameters do not differ between ACL injury mechanisms in recreational alpine skiing.Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA · 2022Article
- Gender differences in snowboarding accidents in Austria: a 2005-2018 registry analysis.BMJ open · 2021Article
- Protections in the Recreational Practice of Ski and Snowboard-An Age and Gender Discussion? A Case Study in Spain.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2021Article
- In recreational alpine skiing, the ACL is predominantly injured in all knee injuries needing hospitalisation.Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA · 2021Article
- Athletes' and Coaches' Attitudes Toward Protective Headgear as Concussion and Head Injury Prevention: A Scoping Review.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2021Article
- Mortality in Different Mountain Sports Activities Primarily Practiced in the Winter Season-A Narrative Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Review
- Injury-Related Behavioral Variables in Alpine Skiers, Snowboarders, and Ski Tourers-A Matched and Enlarged Re-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Article
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3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe prevention of head injuries in alpine activities has focused on helmets. However, no systematic review has examined the effect of helmets on head and neck injuries among skiers and snowboarders.
methodsWe searched electronic databases, conference proceedings and reference lists using a combination of the key words "head injury or head trauma," "helmet" and "skiing or snowboarding." We included studies that used a control group; compared skiers or snowboarders with and without helmets; and measured at least one objectively quantified outcome (e.g., head injury, and neck or cervical injury).
resultsWe included 10 case-control, 1 case-control/case-crossover and 1 cohort study in our analysis. The pooled odds ratio (OR) indicated that skiers and snowboarders with a helmet were significantly less likely than those without a helmet to have a head injury (OR 0.65, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.55-0.79). The result was similar for studies that used controls without an injury (OR 0.61, 95% CI 0.36-0.92), those that used controls with an injury other than a head or neck injury (OR 0.63, 95% CI 0.52-0.80) and studies that included children under the age of 13 years (OR 0.41, 95% CI 0.27-0.59). Helmets were not associated with an increased risk of neck injury (OR 0.89, 95% CI 0.72-1.09).
interpretationOur findings show that helmets reduce the risk of head injury among skiers and snowboarders with no evidence of an increased risk of neck injury.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.