BICYCLING EXPOSURE AND SEVERE INJURIES IN SCHOOL-AGE-CHILDREN - A POPULATION-BASED STUDY

Objectives: To examine exposure to bicycling and its association with severe bicycle injuries in school-age children in a defined population . Design: Random-digit dialing telephone survey and analysis of hospit al discharge records. Setting: Metropolitan Toronto, Ontario. Subjects : Sample of parents of children aged 5 to 17 years who owned a bicycle ; all children who were admitted to hospitals with bicycle-related inj uries from April 1989 to March 1991. Main Outcomes: Median annual bicy cling hours and distance by age and sex; age- and sex-specific inciden ce rates by-population at risk, cumulative exposure hours, and riding distances. Results: More than half of the children of all age groups w ere exposed to bicycling more than 100 hours per year. Boys spent more hours and rode longer distances than girls in every age group. The ov erall annual injury rates were 8.1 and 3.4 per 10000 population at ris k for boys and girls, respectively. About half of the injuries suffere d were head injuries. When rates were estimated on the basis of exposu re, boys still experienced a higher injury rate than girls. Boys displ ayed a slight increase with age in rates per unit of exposure hours. C onversely, age appeared to be negatively associated with overall and h ead injury rates when exposure was expressed by distance ridden. Concl usions: Boys had a higher injury rate than girls, and bicycle-related injuries are more likely to be associated with exposure time than dist ance ridden.