Older Bicyclists, More Injuries

It may not be surprising that as more older Americans ride bikes, more older Americans are hurt in bike accidents, but the rise in injuries is sufficient to warrant a report in the Journal of the America Medical Association. JAMA reports that when researchers from the University of California, San Francisco analyzed data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, a national probability sample of approximately 100 emergency departments that gathers product-related injury data, they found a serious bump in the number of bicycle-related injuries and hospital admissions among adults older than 45. How serious? Between 1998 and 2013, bike injuries among those over the age of 45 jumped 81 percent, from 23 percent to 42 percent of total injuries. Another study, reported by HealthDay and conducted by researchers at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, found that while death rates for cyclists younger than 15 fell by 92 percent between 1975 and 2012, death rates for cyclists between the ages of 35 and 74 showed a large increase. The largest rise in bike-related deaths occurred among cyclists aged 35 to 54.