can of worms

xz

article in the Times, gives both sides of the argument


http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/health/2009/0929/1224255431633.html

ednwireland

personally always wear one but as you say


they could have saved it till friday

Jawgap

The mods should lock this til midnight......

I'd agree with compulsory helmets for kids, but adults should be left to make their own mind up.

tomasrojo

It's already covered here, so maybe it should be locked:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055684441&page=5

tomasrojo

Also, at the risk of opening that can of worms a little further, the article doesn't adequately cover both sides of the argument. The academic argument of how much protection they really offer is still open. None of the studies they mention in the first half of the article could be described as "conclusive". They are all small-scale case-control studies, with all the bias and confounding that go with that particular study design.

RobFowl

tomasrojo wrote: »

Also, at the risk of opening that can of worms a little further, the article doesn't adequately cover both sides of the argument. The academic argument of how much protection they really offer is still open. None of the studies they mention in the first half of the article could be described as "conclusive". They are all small-scale case-control studies, with all the bias and confounding that go with that particular study design.

You're never going to achieve the ideal study type (randomised double blind with large numbers) and there will always be conflicts of interest in terms of funding research outside of small universtity ones.
The argument whether helmets offer some protection is virtually accepted universally.
How much protection is the real unanswerable.
Also none of the evidence towards compulsion is clear at all. Decreased HI's vs decreased numbers cycling, risk of HI vs health benifit of exercise etc.
Not adding anything here I know but just trying to emphasise that evidence is equivical at best re complusion.

tomasrojo

The article says there are "conclusive" studies.
It doesn't mention the whole-population studies that show no effect.

tomasrojo

I'm not disagreeing with what you're saying, RobFowl, I just think they didn't represent the academic side of the debate in a balanced fashion.

As for ideal studies, I think whole-population studies are considerably more reliable than case-control studies.

RobFowl

tomasrojo wrote: »

I'm not disagreeing with what you're saying, RobFowl, I just think they didn't represent the academic side of the debate in a balanced fashion.

As for ideal studies, I think whole-population studies are considerably more reliable than case-control studies.

Sounds like you're au fait with alot of the research, are you in a sports science or academic post?
Agree with you completely FWIT. Am from a medical backround myself and if you're in a position to help wouldn't mind replying just to emphasise how inconclusive the evidence actually is.

tomasrojo

RobFowl wrote: »

Sounds like you're au fait with alot of the research, are you in a sports science or academic post?
Agree with you completely FWIT. Am from a medical backround myself and if you're in a position to help wouldn't mind replying just to emphasise how inconclusive the evidence actually is.

I've a background in Biology, and I did as many stat.s courses as I could both as an undergrad. and postgrad.

What really gets me is this abuse of statistics, even more than the deleterious effects on cycling rates.

Do you mean you want to write to the IT? I could give any reply you write a once-over and point you to stat.s, if you like. Be glad to help.

RobFowl

tomasrojo wrote: »

I've a background in Biology, and I did as many stat.s courses as I could both as an undergrad. and postgrad.

What really gets me is this abuse of statistics, even more than the deleterious effects on cycling rates.

Do you mean you want to write to the IT? I could give any reply you write a once-over and point you to stat.s, if you like. Be glad to help.

Will PM you

Esroh

Helmet being talked about on Matt Cooper now

tomasrojo

Who's the guy talking about Donegal?

tomasrojo

Dr. Lane, I think he just said.

Sorry to be bothering.

blorg

He raised the car helmet idea, didn't catch the response. Clearly he is a Boards reader!

tomasrojo

Dr. Lane evaded that question. Or just forgot about it. Didn't want to give a straight answer anyway when Cooper asked him would he support car helmets.