Bicycle injuries are mounting, especially in adults

For the past month, the Boston medical community has been mourning the death of Dr. Anita Kurmann, who was killed in a traffic accident while biking to work on a Friday morning. Dr. Kurmann, an endocrine surgeon, was completing a three-year fellowship at Boston University and Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. She had made great progress with coaxing stem cells to grow into thyroid tissue. Her bicycle has been painted white and chained to a post at the site where she died, one of several “ghost bikes” that commemorate other lives lost in a similar fashion. It’s ironic that Dr. Kurmann lost her life doing one of the things that kept her fit and healthy. But, as a study described in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association points out, cycling is becoming an increasingly risky activity. For the study, a team of researchers from the University of California, San Francisco examined data regarding hospital admissions for cycling injuries between 1998 and 2013. They found that the rate of people seeking treatment for bicycle injuries had risen 28%, from 96 to 123 per 100,000 — and the rate of injuries that sent people to the hospital had increased by 120%, growing from 5.1 to 11.2 per 100,000. Head injuries accounted for 16% of all injuries; torso injuries accounted for 17%. And the proportion of accidents on city streets had risen from 40% to 65% of all bicycle accidents. Moreover, it was people over 45 — not children or teens — wh...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Exercise and Fitness Safety bicycle injuries bike injuries bike safety Source Type: news