WEDNESDAY, Dec. 23, 2020 (HealthDay News) — The number of sledding-related injuries has decreased in recent years, but the rate of injuries is still concerning, according to a study published online Dec. 14 in the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine.
Kris H.C. Evans, Ph.D., from the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, and colleagues performed a retrospective analysis using data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System for children and adults who were treated for sledding-related injuries in emergency departments from 2008 to 2017.
The researchers found that an estimated 220,488 patients were treated in emergency departments for sledding-related injuries, with children accounting for 69.7 percent of the injuries. For children and adults, the injury rate decreased significantly during the study period. Fractures were the most common injury diagnosis for children and adults (23.9 and 27.4 percent, respectively). Children were more likely than adults to sustain a head injury (relative risk, 1.91) and to be diagnosed with a concussion or closed-head injury (relative risk, 1.58). Most patients (63.2 percent) were injured by collision; injuries mainly occurred when patients collided with objects in the environment (47.2 percent).
“While we were happy to see that the number of sledding-related injuries have gone down in recent years, the fact that these injuries are still happening at this rate means we need to do a better job getting the information out about the potential dangers associated with sledding,” a coauthor said in a statement.
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