Bicycle Injuries in US (Maybe) Becoming More Severe

[Note the limited scope of this study.]

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Oct 13 - The results of a single-center study suggest that bicycle injuries in the US have become more severe, with a marked increase in chest and abdominal injuries. Moreover, despite greater public awareness, helmet use has not increased and head injury rates have not fallen.

"There is a paucity of studies looking specifically at bicycle injuries," lead researcher Dr. Jeffry Kashuk, from the University of Colorado, Denver, told Reuters Health. In the last several years, greater environmental awareness, economic downturns, an emphasis on fitness, and other factors have pushed towards greater bicycle use in the US.

On Tuesday at the 2009 Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons in Chicago, Dr. Kashuk report on a study of 329 patients with bicycle injuries who were admitted to the Rocky Mountain Regional Trauma Center in Denver from 1996 to 2006.

He and his colleagues found that the median injury severity score increased significantly over the study period, and the number of chest injuries rose by 15%. Over just the last 5 years, abdominal injuries increased threefold.

Emergency room documentation of helmet use improved during the study period, yet actual use did not appear to have changed significantly, based on their findings in the 118 patients (36%) with significant head injuries, Dr. Kashuk said.

The rise in injury severity likely reflects an increased rate of "motor vehicle associated injuries, which might suggest, along with a trend towards older age, that the injuries occurred in commuters more frequently than the past, as opposed to recreational riders," Dr. Kashuk said.

The findings, Dr. Kashuk believes, could have important implications for cycling infrastructure in the US.

"Although the public is very enthusiastic about bicycle use as a means of transportation, we think that infrastructure has lagged behind in the US," he explained. "The government is pushing bike days, and rebates for bike use. Communities are putting in bicycle kiosks." However, there is only limited data to show that "we have bikeways to support this increase in bike use."

<a href="http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/710484">http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/710484</a>;