American Journal of Epidemiology Advance Access originally published online on June 14, 2006
American Journal of Epidemiology 2006 164(2):161-169; doi:10.1093/aje/kwj167
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Original Contribution |
Association of First- and Second-Generation Air Bags with Front Occupant Death in Car Crashes: A Matched Cohort Study
1 Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
2 Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
3 Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
4 Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Correspondence to Dr. Carin M. Olson, Box 356123, Division of Emergency Medicine, University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, WA 98195 (e-mail: colson{at}u.washington.edu).
First-generation air bags entail a decreased risk of death for most front seat occupants in car crashes but an increased risk for children. Second-generation air bags were developed to reduce the risks for children, despite the possibility of decreasing protection for others. Using a matched cohort design, the authors estimated risk ratios for death for use of each generation of air bag versus no air bag, adjusted for seat position, restraint use, sex, age, and all vehicle and crash characteristics, among 128,208 automobile occupants involved in fatal crashes on US roadways during 1990–2002. The authors then compared adjusted risk ratios (aRRs) between the two generations of air bags. Among front seat occupants, the aRR for death with a first-generation air bag was 0.90 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.86, 0.94); the aRR with a second-generation air bag was 0.89 (95% CI: 0.79, 1.00) (p = 0.83 for comparison of aRRs). Among children under age 6 years, the aRR with a first-generation air bag was 1.66 (95% CI: 1.20, 2.30), while the aRR with a second-generation air bag was 1.10 (95% CI: 0.63, 1.93) (p = 0.20 for comparison of aRRs). The differences in aRRs between first- and second-generation air bags among other subgroups were small and not statistically significant.
accidents, traffic; air bags; automobiles; motor vehicles; protective devices
Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; FARS, Fatality Analysis Reporting System
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