Second-Generation Air Bags Pose Lower Risk of Death for Children

Investigators from the University of Washington, Seattle used a matched cohort study design to compare the risk of death associated with first- and second-generation air bags with the use of no air bag for passengers in car crashes. Data were abstracted from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) for fatal car crashes during 1990–2002. Excluded from analysis were data on passengers occupying the middle seat and on passengers in pickup trucks, large trucks, sport utility vehicles, minivans, vans, and buses. The characteristics (ie, age, sex, use of restraints, presence of air bag, death from the crash) of those excluded were similar to those included. Data on restraint use were missing in 8.2% of cases, and some data were missing from a total of 9.6% of occupants, which led to exclusion of these and all other occupants in their car. The final study sample consisted of 128,208 occupants and 53,249 cars.

The authors compared occupants in the same vehicle and …