The research includes data from 20 000 crashes and is published in Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine.
Investigators, led by Marjorie Wang from the Medical College of Wisconsin, studied the records of crash victims 16 years of age and older admitted to Wisconsin hospitals after car or truck accidents. They used the Crash Outcome Data Evaluation System, a database of the police reports of all motor-vehicle crashes linked to hospital records.
Only 14% of drivers and front-seat occupants who crashed in Wisconsin were protected by the combination of seat belts and air bags. Dr. Wang and her team found that 12.5% of people in car crashes had spine fractures. The risk for fracture was reduced with both seat belt and air bags, but not with either measure alone.
Most fractures were cervical or lumbosacral, and 8% of patients with a cervical spine fracture also had a thoracic or lumbosacral fracture, the researchers report. The combination of seat belts and air bags provided the best protection against spine fractures, including the most severe fractures, Dr. Wang and her team conclude.
