Citation

Olkkonen S. J. Traffic Med. 1993; 21(1): 29-37.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1993, International Association for Accident and Traffic Medicine)

DOI

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PMID

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Abstract

A total of 200 bicycle victims who had been injured fatally in road traffic accidents during the years 1982-88 in the three Southern Finnish provinces were investigated. Seven hundred cyclists were used as unmatched controls for the cases. The average age of victims and controls were 54 and 34 years respectively. Sixty percent of the victims and 52% of the controls were males. Sixty-six percent of the deaths occurred at intersections. Head injury was the principal cause of death in 142 (71%) cyclists. The estimate of the potential of a helmet to protect the cyclist from fatal head injuries was the same in all age groups and suggests that nearly half of fatal cycling injuries could be avoided by using a helmet. Forty-two (21%) of the victims had multiple (greater than AIS3) injuries. Fifty- nine (52%) of the 114 bicycle victims had a known health condition and aged over 15 years, and 35 (5%) of the controls had a health disorder which may have been harmful in traffic. Alcohol was involved in 25% of the collision accidents and in 63% of the single accidents involving cyclists aged 15-64 years and whose blood alcohol was measured. Only 4% of the controls were under the influence of alcohol. The estimate of up to a seven- fold increase in risk of death related to harmful health disorders found in this study did not differ significantly from the three-fold increase in risk in collisions related to alcohol use. However, the risk of death related to the use of alcohol in single bicycle injuries was extremely high (OR 58), which strongly suggests a causal link between use of alcohol and bicycle injury. Ageing also increased an adult cyclist's fatality risk by 8% per year, on average. (A)