Bicycle injuries in Western Sweden: a comparison between counties

The objectives of the study were to investigate whether there are differenc es in the incidence of bicycle-related injuries by geographic district (cou nty), age, and gender in Sweden's Western Road Administration Region, and t o utilize any detected differences to suggest priorities for intervention a nd prevention. Injury data come from the Swedish national hospital-discharg e registry and a specialized national register of occupational injuries. Bo th bodily injuries in general and head injuries in particular show intra-re gional differences. The rural part of Skaraborg County was shown to have a significantly higher injury incidence than other pacts of the Western Regio n. Females generally show a lower incidence than males, but older women are more likely to be seriously injured than younger (age-related differences being greater than for males). Some striking findings were found with regar d to occupational differences. Females sustain more work-related bicycle in juries than males. Head injuries account for more than half of the bicycle injuries in the Western Region that require hospitalization. All this indic ates that targeted measures are required. Some studies have shown that the use of bicycle helmets reduces the incidence of head injuries, the degree o f their severity, and the number of bicycle-related fatalities. There is a need for mandatory helmet-wearing legislation, which must go hand-in-hand w ith special efforts to reach groups with a low rate of helmet wearing, in p articular those in the middle age range. Although the grown-up/older cyclin g population has been the subject of targeted action in some countries, the focus of preventive activity has generally been on children. The results o f the study suggest the need for further injury-related research into adult cycling. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.