Value of emergency department triage data to describe and understand patterns and mechanisms of cycling injuries.

Objective: To characterise patients presenting to EDs for a bicycle-related injury, identify contributing factors to the injuries and describe the data gaps.

Methods: A retrospective study of bicycle-related injury presentations over the 5 year period 2010-2014 to two major metropolitan EDs. Data collected from the emergency presentation database consisted of patient demographics, presenting complaint, discharge diagnosis and details about the circumstances and mechanism of the accident.

Results: Bicycle injuries (n = 4144) increased from 20.0 to 25.2 per 1000 injury presentations over 5 years. Patients were 80% male across all age groups and 35% of presentations occurred at the weekend. Fractures accounted for one-third (34%) of all injuries, while injuries to the upper extremities and head resulted in 36% and 19% of cases, respectively. Admission rate was 17%. The number of falls exceeded collisions (1611 vs 937), and in the 13.3% of the fall cases where documentation was present for which how the fall occurred, over half were attributed to bike handling errors. Information related to type of bicycle, accident location, type of activity, protective clothing worn (including helmets) and visibility aids was not recorded for over 95% of the cases.

Conclusion: Bicycle injuries carry a considerable burden to the ED and the incidence of presentations appears to be rising. The current triage data, designed to provide a rapid assessment for medical urgency, are limited to describing broad demographics, trends and causes.