As More Cyclists Hit the Road, Serious Injuries Rise
WEDNESDAY, Oct. 14 (HealthDay News) -- Bicyclists are facing higher injury rates and longer hospital stays, with both worsening over the past 11 years at a Denver trauma center, according to the results of a study of biking injuries.
Chest injuries rose by 15 percent and abdominal injuries tripled over the last five years, the study authors found. Cyclists themselves appear to be part of the problem: Helmet use did not go up over the study period, and more than 33 percent of 329 injured cyclists had a significant head injury.
"We were astounded by that data," said Dr. Jeffry Kashuk, professor of surgery at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and senior attending surgeon at the Rocky Mountain Regional Trauma Center at Denver Health Medical Center. "We're talking about injured spleens and livers, internal bleeding, rib fractures, and hemothorax [blood in the chest]," he stated in a news release from the American College of Surgeons.
The study was scheduled be presented during the 2009 Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons, held Oct. 11 to 15 in Chicago.
"Denver is very much a bicycle community.
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