Incidence of bicycle-related accidents and subsequent injury in community-dwelling older adults: understanding potential accidents

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  • 地域在住高齢者における自転車関連事故発生率とその傷害率：潜在的傷害事故の把握に向けた検討
  • チイキ ザイジュウ コウレイシャ ニ オケル ジテンシャ カンレン ジコ ハッセイリツ ト ソノ ショウガイリツ : センザイテキ ショウガイ ジコ ノ ハアク ニ ムケタ ケントウ

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Objectives This study investigated 1) the incidence of bicycle-related accidents and subsequent injuries and 2) the number of injuries (accidents) reported to the police (i.e., examining the number of potential accidents) among community-dwelling Japanese older adults, after examining the percentage of those who were regular cyclists.<br/>Methods Based on local resident registration, we mailed questionnaires to 7083 community-dwelling older adults. The questionnaire included questions about the incidence of bicycle-related accidents and subsequent injury within a year, the degree of injury and presence or absence of reporting that injury (bicycle-related accident) to the police. For the bicycle-related accident, we asked regarding both riding and pedestrian accidents (i.e., accidents caused by a bicycle when walking).<br/>Results Excluding the blank responses (n=3539, 50.0%), the targets for analysis were 3098 older adults in riding accidents and 2861 older adults in pedestrian accidents. The results showed that 63.0% of older adults (n=1953) routinely rode a bicycle. Among them, 9.4% (n=184) experienced riding accidents, and 3.4% (n=98) experienced pedestrian accidents caused by a bicycle. For the riding accidents, 76.1% (n=140) had some injuries, and for the pedestrian accidents, 55.1% (n=54) had some injuries. Furthermore, in 70.2% (n=59) and 76.9% (n=20) of riding and pedestrian accidents, respectively, those who went to the hospital for treatment of their injury (i.e., injury requiring treatment) did not report the accident to the police.<br/>Conclusion The present study revealed that there are many potential bicycle-related accidents in older adults. This suggests that there may be a large gap in the national survey data between reported bicycle-related accidents and the actual number of incidents in older adults.

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