Bicycle-related injuries and outcomes in a pediatric population from 1997-2006

Retrospective data on bicycle-related hospital admissions spanning the years from 1997 to 2006 were extracted from the trauma registry of Children's Medical Center Dallas. An examination of the data strongly suggests that bicycle safety education needs to focus not only on the use of protective gear such as helmets, but on the ages at which children are at greatest risk for sustaining a bicycle-related injuries, and the interaction between bicycles and motor vehicles on public thoroughfares, as well. Of the 732 patients admitted for bicycle-related injuries, very few reported wearing a helmet at the time of injury (5.8%). Only one of the 13 fatalities wore a helmet at the time of injury, and 11 of these fatalities involved head trauma. The results also indicate that bicycle-related injury admissions occurred most frequently in children 10 years of age and younger (71.3%), and that the majority of fatalities (69.2%) occurred in children between the ages of 6 and 10. Although the most common reported cause for injury was falling (43.6%), a good portion of injuries were the result of motor vehicle-bicycle collisions (37.6%). All of the reported fatalities involved a motor vehicle, as did 55.6% of injuries categorized as severe. The data strongly suggest that a reduction in the number and severity of bicycle-related injuries will not likely occur without a renewed effort from researchers, educators, legislators, and parents.