American Journal of Epidemiology Advance Access originally published online on March 15, 2008
American Journal of Epidemiology 2008 167(7):886-887; doi:10.1093/aje/kwn053
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR |
THE AUTHORS REPLY
1 National Study Center for Trauma and Emergency Medical Systems, Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
2 National Study Center for Trauma and Emergency Medical Systems, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
(e-mail: elisabraver{at}gmail.com)
We thank Olson et al. (1) for pointing out that they actually did include risk ratios for frontal impacts in their study (2) and for providing an additional table that summarizes their findings regarding frontal impacts. Frontal air bags are engineered to protect occupants by deploying in frontal crashes; thus, examining their performance in frontal crashes is critical for evaluating evolving air bag designs. We would like to correct the sentence in our paper (3) concerning Olson et al. to read as follows: "The study focused primarily on the impact of newer styles of frontal air bags on overall risk of front-occupant deaths in motor vehicle crashes, but it also estimated the effects on deaths in frontal crashes."
This revised sentence is accurate because Olson et al. stated that "most of our adjusted risk ratio estimates were for crashes with any direction of impact" (2, p. 164); their rationale for focusing on all impact directions was that severe crashes "may not be purely frontal or nonfrontal" (2, p. 164). Accordingly, Olson et al.'s Abstract and Discussion summarized findings for all impact directions combined and presented stratified analyses by age and gender for all impacts combined.
Olson et al. (2) provided important information to assess the overall effects of changes in air bag designs on occupant deaths, including child front-seat passengers, who are most vulnerable to air-bag-induced deaths. They observed significant reductions in risk of death among occupants in frontal crashes when air bags were present, but not among occupants in nonfrontal crashes.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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Financial support was received from the Alliance of Automotive Manufacturers, a trade association representing automakers, via the Blue Ribbon Panel for Evaluation of Advanced Airbag Technology. The Alliance of Automotive Manufacturers did not provide advice or comments regarding the study design, data analysis, or interpretation. Oversight of the study was performed by the Blue Ribbon Panel, which consists of representatives from the traffic safety research community, the National Transportation Safety Board, academia, medical institutions, and the insurance industry.
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References |
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 TOP References |
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- Olson CM, Cummings P, Rivara FP. Re: "Using head-on collisions to compare risk of driver death by frontal air bag generation: a matched-pair cohort study." (Letter). Am J Epidemiol (2008) 167:885–6.
[Free Full Text] - Olson CM, Cummings P, Rivara FP. Association of first- and second-generation air bags with front occupant death in car crashes: a matched cohort study. Am J Epidemiol (2006) 164:161–9.
[Abstract/Free Full Text] - Braver ER, Kufera JA, Alexander MT, et al. Using head-on collisions to compare risk of driver death by frontal air bag generation: a matched-pair cohort study. Am J Epidemiol (2008) 167:546–52.
[Abstract/Free Full Text]
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