Bicycle-Related Injuries Among Children and Adolescents in the United States

Bicycles are sources of exercise, transportation,and recreation for many people in the UnitedStates. Bicycle industry reports indicate that there are more bicycles being sold per year in the United States than new cars1,2 (18.2 million bicycles vs 16.5 million new cars in 2006). An estimated 44 million individuals 21 years and younger ride bicycles,3 and more than 70 % of all children between the ages of 5 and 14 years ride bicycles.4 Unfortunately, in 2003 alone unintentional bicycle injuries were among the top 5 causes of nonfatal injuries among children aged 5 through 14 years in the United States.5 The only consumer product associated with more childhood injuries than bicycles is automobiles. Although many educa-tion programs aimed at preventing bicycle-related injuries have been implemented and evaluated, large numbers of injuries continue to occur. The majority of bicycle-related injury research has been restricted to local or state-level analyses,6-9 has concentrated on only 1 type of injury (such as head injuries or handlebar-related injuries),10,11 or has focused on 1 injury prevention strategy, mainly helmets (such as effectiveness of helmets or evalua-tions of the impact of helmet laws).12-23 The few national studies were based on data that did not allow for population-based estimates24 or were out-dated and based on a short period (≤5 years).25 To our knowledge, no study has performed a recent, nationally representative, detailed analysis of the epidemiology and trends of bicycle-related in-juries. The objective of this study was to comprehen-sively examine bicycle-related injuries among children and adolescents 18 years and younger on a national level