IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aph/ajpbhl/10.2105-ajph.2008.159004_5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Quality-adjusted life-years and helmet use among motorcyclists sustaining head injuries

Author

Listed:
  • Lee, H.-Y.
  • Chen, Y.-H.
  • Chiu, W.-T.
  • Hwang, J.-S.
  • Wang, J.-D.

Abstract

We estimated loss of quality-adjusted life expectancy (QALE) among motorcyclists in Taiwan who sustained head injuries while wearing or not wearing a helmet. Methods. Patients with head injuries (n=3328) were grouped into categories representing good and poor outcomes (moderate disability or death) at discharge. After linkage with the National Mortality Registry, survival functions were determined and extrapolated over a 50-year period on the basis of the survival ratio between patients and age- and gender-matched reference populations, as calculated from available Taiwan vital statistics. Survival functions were then multiplied by scores from quality-of-life measures. Results. Percentages of good and poor outcomes were 87.2% and 12.8%, respectively, in the helmeted group and 66.4% and 33.6% in the nonhelmeted group. The mean QALE for helmeted motorcyclists, calculated by weighting percentages of good and poor outcomes, was 31.7 quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), with an average loss of 5.8 QALYs. For nonhelmeted motorcyclists, the mean QALE was 25.9 QALYs, with a loss of 10.7 QALYs. Conclusions.Helmet use could save approximately 5 QALYs among motorcyclists sustaining head injuries. Future cost-effectiveness analysis can calculate the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio for regulation of helmet use.

Suggested Citation

  • Lee, H.-Y. & Chen, Y.-H. & Chiu, W.-T. & Hwang, J.-S. & Wang, J.-D., 2010. "Quality-adjusted life-years and helmet use among motorcyclists sustaining head injuries," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 100(1), pages 165-170.
    • Handle: RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2008.159004_5
    DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2008.159004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.2105/AJPH.2008.159004
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2105/AJPH.2008.159004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2008.159004_5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Christopher F Baum (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.apha.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.