Benjamin Breyer, MD, MAS, UCSF urology associate professor and chief of urology at San Francisco General Hospital led a team of five to study bicycle injuries. The research, titled Bicycle Trauma Injuries and Hospital Admissions in the United States, 1998-2013 appeared this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association with UCSF Urology resident Thomas Sanford, MD as first author.
The team used a national injury surveillance database called NEISS to evaluate trends associated with bicycle injuries from 1998-2013. Sanford explains, “We found a rise in injuries overall, but the more surprising finding was that rate of admission associated with bicycle injuries had more than doubled, even when the growth in the population was accounted for.”
It appears that an increase in injuries in individuals over 45 accounted for these trends, likely due to an increase in the susceptibility to severe injury in older individuals. This study highlights the need for promotion of safe riding practices and further investment of infrastructure to prevent cycling-related injuries.
Click here for the JAMA article and here for the story in UCSF.EDU