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NEISS data on bicyclist injuries

5/15-year averages

Year-on-year data

Sample sizes

The National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) [1] is a national probability sample of hospitals in the US. Patient information is collected from each NEISS hospital for every emergency visit involving an injury associated with consumer products (which includes bicycles). From this sample, the total number of product-related injuries treated in hospital emergency rooms nationwide can be estimated.

The following data on bicyclist injuries has been extracted from the NEISS.

5/15-year averages

Deaths due primarily to head injury

The proportion of bicyclist fatalities due primarily to head injury has remained relatively constant since 1991.

1991 - 1995	48%
1996 - 2000	42.5%
2001 - 2005	45%

1991 - 2005	45%

Year-on-year data

Following is the raw sample count data for all bike injuries from the NEISS for 1991-2005, along with the same data for only juvenile cyclists under the age of 16.

KEY

%Head = percentage of total injuries due to head injury
%Hosp = percentage of total injuries resulting in hospitalization
HH = head injuries resulting in hospitalization
HH/Head = percentage of head injuries resulting in hospitalization
HH/Hosp = percentage of hospitalizations due to head injury
Fatal-Head = fatalities due primarily to head injury

All bicyclists

	Total	Head	%Head	Hosp	%Hosp	HH	HH/Head	HH/Hosp	Fatal	Fatal-Head
1991	13481	1670	12.4%	607	4.5%	230	13.8%	37.9%	6	3
1992	14761	1810	12.3%	602	4.1%	226	12.5%	37.5%	6	2
1993	14303	1683	11.8%	603	4.2%	212	12.6%	35.2%	8	4
1994	14361	1775	12.4%	616	4.3%	224	12.6%	36.4%	7	2
1995	14284	1727	12.1%	706	4.9%	234	13.5%	33.1%	4	4
1996	14224	1731	12.2%	653	4.6%	222	12.8%	34.0%	6	0
1997	14689	1889	12.9%	649	4.4%	226	12.0%	34.8%	9	5
1998	15784	2029	12.9%	812	5.1%	299	14.7%	36.8%	7	4
1999	16654	2240	13.5%	747	4.5%	258	11.5%	34.5%	10	5
2000	17570	2258	12.9%	792	4.5%	274	12.1%	34.6%	8	3
2001	15891	2165	13.6%	781	4.9%	260	12.0%	33.3%	12	4
2002	15695	2213	14.1%	791	5.0%	317	14.3%	40.1%	10	7
2003	15352	2104	13.7%	835	5.4%	286	13.6%	34.3%	9	5
2004	15417	2260	14.7%	872	5.7%	299	13.2%	34.3%	13	5
2005	15018	2212	14.7%	934	6.2%	312	14.1%	33.4%	14	5

Juvenile bicyclists, under 16 years

	Total	Head	%Head	Hosp	%Hosp	HH	HH/Head	HH/Hosp	Fatal	Fatal-Head
1991	9401	1290	13.7%	348	3.7%	151	11.7%	43.4%	1	1
1992	10485	1416	13.5%	333	3.2%	137	9.7%	41.1%	2	0
1993	9902	1272	12.8%	337	3.4%	121	9.5%	35.9%	2	2
1994	9576	1284	13.4%	324	3.4%	133	10.4%	41.0%	0	0
1995	9122	1217	13.3%	337	3.7%	123	10.1%	36.5%	2	2
1996	9263	1272	13.7%	331	3.6%	139	10.9%	42.0%	2	0
1997	10367	1467	14.2%	381	3.7%	140	9.5%	36.7%	3	1
1998	10917	1516	13.9%	511	4.7%	191	12.6%	37.4%	1	0
1999	11594	1706	14.7%	427	3.7%	171	10.0%	40.0%	4	3
2000	12147	1736	14.3%	461	3.8%	184	10.6%	39.9%	4	0
2001	10371	1583	15.3%	440	4.2%	165	10.4%	37.5%	3	1
2002	10215	1617	15.8%	417	4.1%	188	11.6%	45.1%	3	3
2003	10070	1467	14.6%	452	4.5%	161	11.0%	35.6%	3	2
2004	10002	1581	15.8%	462	4.6%	180	11.4%	39.0%	4	0
2005	9253	1458	15.8%	447	4.8%	150	10.3%	33.6%	5	2

Samples sizes

KEY

T = Total
SC = Sample count
Est = Estimate of total number of cases in population, extrapolated from sample count
Head = Head injuries
Hosp = Hospitalizations
HH = Hed injuries resulting in hospitalization injury
Fatal-CDC = Total bicycle fatalities based on CDC data (2004-05 data estimated using FARS trends)

All bicyclists

	T-SC	T-Est	%T-SC	Head-SC	Head-Est	%Head-SC	Hosp-SC	Hosp-Est	%Hosp-SC
1991	13481	567700	2.40%	1670	66815	2.50%	607	22835	2.70%
1992	14761	607615	2.40%	1810	70616	2.60%	602	21446	2.80%
1993	14303	559197	2.60%	1683	62866	2.70%	603	20398	3.00%
1994	14361	570984	2.50%	1775	65688	2.70%	616	20882	2.90%
1995	14284	553064	2.60%	1727	63216	2.70%	706	23410	3.00%
1996	14224	553501	2.60%	1731	61192	2.80%	653	20899	3.10%
1997	14689	567002	2.60%	1889	61861	3.10%	649	20586	3.20%
1998	15784	597284	2.60%	2029	66887	3.00%	812	22222	3.70%
1999	16654	614594	2.70%	2240	71715	3.10%	747	21797	3.40%
2000	17570	627164	2.80%	2258	73747	3.10%	792	20411	3.90%
2001	15891	565742	2.80%	2165	67350	3.20%	781	18685	4.20%
2002	15695	539642	2.90%	2213	62337	3.60%	791	19062	4.10%
2003	15352	535100	2.90%	2104	63787	3.30%	835	20616	4.10%
2004	15417	534883	2.90%	2260	68283	3.30%	872	20324	4.30%
2005	15018	494712	3.00%	2212	62812	3.50%	934	21775	4.30%

	HH-SC	HH-Est	%HH-SC	Fatal-SC	Fatal-CDC	%Fatal-SC
1991	230	8176	2.80%	6	917	0.70%
1992	226	7378	3.10%	6	790	0.80%
1993	212	6819	3.10%	8	905	0.90%
1994	224	7233	3.10%	7	825	0.80%
1995	234	7366	3.20%	4	906	0.40%
1996	222	6849	3.20%	6	809	0.70%
1997	226	6398	3.50%	9	898	1.00%
1998	299	7601	3.90%	7	825	0.80%
1999	258	5995	4.30%	10	800	1.30%
2000	274	6354	4.30%	8	740	1.10%
2001	260	5041	5.20%	12	792	1.50%
2002	317	5741	5.50%	10	767	1.30%
2003	286	5795	4.90%	9	762	1.20%
2004	299	6109	4.90%	13	800	1.60%
2005	312	6936	4.50%	14	825	1.70%

Juvenile bicyclists, under 16 years

	T-SC	T-Est	%T-SC	Head-SC	Head-Est	%Head-SC	Hosp-SC	Hosp-Est	%Hosp-SC
1991	9401	399445	2.40%	1290	52093	2.50%	348	12809	2.70%
1992	10485	440546	2.40%	1416	56456	2.50%	333	11603	2.90%
1993	9902	394244	2.50%	1272	48653	2.60%	337	11055	3.00%
1994	9576	386727	2.50%	1284	48495	2.60%	324	10299	3.10%
1995	9122	359838	2.50%	1217	44937	2.70%	337	11177	3.00%
1996	9263	351465	2.60%	1272	45428	2.80%	331	9824	3.40%
1997	10367	367827	2.80%	1467	42853	3.40%	381	9705	3.90%
1998	10917	381601	2.90%	1516	45055	3.40%	511	11164	4.60%
1999	11594	398582	2.90%	1706	49931	3.40%	427	10351	4.10%
2000	12147	394534	3.10%	1736	51937	3.30%	461	9404	4.90%
2001	10371	334361	3.10%	1583	43468	3.60%	440	8425	5.20%
2002	10215	323371	3.20%	1617	41673	3.90%	417	7975	5.20%
2003	10070	322661	3.10%	1467	39448	3.70%	452	8961	5.00%
2004	10002	315634	3.20%	1581	42386	3.70%	462	8130	5.70%
2005	9253	279851	3.30%	1458	37124	3.90%	447	7621	5.90%

	HH-SC	HH-Est	%HH-SC	Fatal-SC	Fatal-CDC	%Fatal-SC
1991	151	5217	2.90%	1	302	0.30%
1992	137	4729	2.90%	2	283	0.70%
1993	121	3742	3.20%	2	321	0.60%
1994	133	4289	3.10%	0	293	0.00%
1995	123	3876	3.20%	2	280	0.70%
1996	139	4114	3.40%	2	237	0.80%
1997	140	2778	5.00%	3	245	1.20%
1998	191	3826	5.00%	1	225	0.40%
1999	171	3194	5.40%	4	194	2.10%
2000	184	3620	5.10%	4	184	2.20%
2001	165	2390	6.90%	3	149	2.00%
2002	188	2241	8.40%	3	144	2.10%
2003	161	2281	7.10%	3	147	2.00%
2004	180	2847	6.30%	4	150	2.70%
2005	150	2271	6.60%	5	150	3.30%

Note that while sample sizes have grown over time in each category, fatalities remain under-represented, and may not be as representative of all bicycle-related fatalities due to the relatively small numbers involved:

All	%T-SC	%Head-SC	%Hosp-SC	%HH-SC	%F-SC
1991 - 1995	2.50%	2.60%	2.90%	3.10%	0.70%
1996 - 2000	2.70%	3.00%	3.40%	3.90%	1.00%
2001 - 2005	2.90%	3.40%	4.20%	5.00%	1.50%

Juveniles	%T-SC	%Head-SC	%Hosp-SC	%HH-SC	%F-SC
1991 - 1995	2.50%	2.60%	3.00%	3.10%	0.50%
1996 - 2000	2.90%	3.30%	4.20%	4.80%	1.30%
2001 - 2005	3.20%	3.80%	5.40%	7.10%	2.40%

References

[1] National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, US Consumer Product Safety Commission.

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