The number of bicycle-related injuries among Ontario children is declining, likely because of increased helmet use and parental diligence, the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) reports. It says there has been a 12.5% decrease in the number of hospitalizations due to bicycle-related injuries among Ontario children aged 5 to 19. During the same 5-year period, the number of bicycle-related head injuries in that age group dropped by 26%.
The CIHI report, Injury Hospitalizations, states that this is related to the 1995 introduction of Ontario's bicycle helmet legislation, which requires children to wear a helmet while riding a bicycle. Alison Macpherson, an injury researcher at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, says research has shown that this type of legislation is “an effective tool.” She added that a recent study indicated that the number of children riding bicycles does not decrease because of mandatory helmet legislation (www.injuryprevention.com).
Julian Martalog, a CIHI consultant, says British Columbia, Alberta, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia have helmet legislation similar to Ontario's. The report also notes an overall drop in the rate of hospitalization for the 5–19 age group in Ontario, from 28.6/100 000 in 1997/98 to 23.6/100 000 in 2001/02, but found little change in the data for other age groups. “We hope [the decrease] is because preventive strategies are having an impact,” said Dr. Vincent Grant of the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa.
Overall, the report shows that injury-related hospitalizations declined by 7.5 % in Ontario in the 5-year period.
The report indicates that the leading cause of these hospitalizations remains unintentional falls, accounting for 61% of the total. This figure hasn't changed significantly over the last decade, said Martalog. — Natalie Dunleavy, CMAJ