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Abstract
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OBJECTIVES: Potential harms of stationary bike injuries in pediatric patients have been highlighted in the literature, but prior work is limited to case series and without population-level analysis. This study's purpose is to examine the epidemiology of pediatric stationary bike injuries occurring in the US over the last decade using a national database.
METHODS: Injuries resulting from stationary bike use in pediatric patients from 2012-2021 were identified using coding from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) database. Patient demographics, injury characteristics, and case narratives were examined. National annual estimates of injury frequency/incidence were calculated using weighting and survey package in R. Univariate analyses were used to compare injuries among groups.
RESULTS: We identified 525 stationary bike injuries representing an estimated total of 15,509 injuries in the population. Pediatric patients sustained an average of 1,551 injuries annually, with an estimated yearly increase of 288 injuries (p < 0.01) after 2019. While males sustained more injuries, there were age dependent differences in frequency of injuries between sexes (p < 0.01). The lower extremity was the most commonly injured body region overall, but children under 5 sustained more injuries to the head/neck and upper extremity. The most common overall injury type was lacerations, while fractures predominated the 5-9 year old age group. Fifty six percent of injuries were sustained not while riding the bike, most notably among children under 10.
CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate the impact of stationary bike injury in the pediatric population is not insignificant and most injuries are related to improper play rather than traditional exercise use. Gender and age-related patterns differed in regards to the type and mechanism of injury sustained. Children under 5 sustain a disproportionate amount of injuries to the head, neck and upper extremity. As stationary bikes grow in popularity, preventative measures should be considered to reduce injuries to young children.
Language: en |