Injury-related falls from bicycles, skateboards, roller skates, and non-motorized scooters in the United States: 2005 - 2014

Abstract

Purpose: To provide an updated and comparative analysis of injury-related falls from bicycles, skateboards, roller skates and non-motorized scooters in the United States.

Methods: The study used two national databases - the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample and the Nationwide Inpatient Sample - and subnational databases for New York, California, and Maryland covering the time span from 2005 to 2014. Univariate and multivariate analyses (negative binomial regression) were performed to identify effects of age, gender, racial-ethnic background, and region on the incidence of injury-related falls from each of the four devices.

Results: The rate of injuries due to falls from bicycles far surpassed the rates due to falls from the other devices. When a measure of “exposure” is taken into consideration, however, the rate of injuries from skateboards outstripped the rates from bicycles or roller skates. The profile of patients who were injured from falls from each of the four devices was distinctive. Asian-Americans were greatly underrepresented among those who suffer a fall-related injury from any of the four devices. The incidence of injuries attributable to falls varied considerably by geographic region.

Conclusion: Public health officials need to be mindful that while certain activities such as scootering might be gaining in popularity, the number of injuries sustained from bicycles still dwarfs the number attributable to falls from skateboards, roller skates, and scooters combined. Thus special attention needs to be paid to both prevent falls from bicycles and specific treatment modalities. It is important for public health officials to gather injury data at the local level to allocate prevention and treatment resources more efficiently.

Keywords

Injuries / Falls / Bicycles / Skateboards / Roller skates / Non-motorized scooters / Emergency department

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