This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on ISI (20)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Related letter  • Related article  • Similar articles in JAMA  Topic Collections  • Quality of Care  • Patient Safety/ Medical Error  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Guohua Li, MD,DrPH; Susan P. Baker, MPH; John E. Smialek, MD; Carl A. Soderstrom, MD

JAMA. 2001;285:893-896.

Context  Bicycling is one of the leading causes of recreational injuries. Elevated blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) are found in about one third of fatally injured bicyclists aged 15 years or older.

Objective  To assess the relative risk of fatal and serious bicycling injury according to BAC.

Design  Matched case-control study.

Setting and Subjects  Bicyclists aged 15 years or older who were fatally or seriously injured while riding a bicycle during the day in Maryland in 1985-1997 (cases, n = 124) and bicyclists aged 15 years or older who were interviewed and given a breath test for estimated BAC during roadside surveys that took place in June 1996 through May 1998 at the same site, time of day, day of week, and month of year in which a case bicyclist was injured (controls, n = 342).

Main Outcome Measure  Odds ratio of bicycling injury according to estimated BAC.

Results  An estimated positive BAC (0.02 g/dL) was detected in 12.9% of the case bicyclists (23.5% of the 34 fatally injured and 8.9% of the 90 seriously injured) compared with 2.9% of the control bicyclists (P<.001). Relative to an estimated BAC of less than 0.02 g/dL, the adjusted odds ratio of bicycling injury was 5.6 (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.2-14.0) for a BAC of 0.02 g/dL or higher and was 20.2 (95% CI, 4.2-96.3) for a BAC of 0.08 g/dL or higher. Rates of helmet use at the time of injury or interview were 5% and 35%, respectively, for those with and without a positive BAC (P = .007).

Conclusion  Alcohol use while bicycle riding is associated with a substantially increased risk of fatal or serious injury.

Author Affiliations: Department of Emergency Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Center for Injury Research and Policy, Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health (Dr Li and Ms Baker), Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Maryland (Dr Smialek), and Division of Trauma Surgery, the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, University of Maryland Medical Center (Dr Soderstrom), Baltimore.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati     What's this?

RELATED LETTER

Elevated Blood Alcohol and Risk of Injury Among Bicyclists
Charles Komanoff, Guohua Li, and Susan P. Baker
JAMA. 2001;285(19):2445-2446.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

RELATED ARTICLE

February 21, 2001
JAMA. 2001;285(7):955-956.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Personality disorders and nonfatal unintentional injuries among US adults
Chen et al.
Inj. Prev. 2008;14:180-184.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Cyclists injured while sharing the road with motor vehicles
Haileyesus et al.
Inj. Prev. 2007;13:202-206.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Association Between Alcohol and Mortality in Patients With Severe Traumatic Head Injury
Tien et al.
Arch Surg 2006;141:1185-1191.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Changes in traffic crash mortality rates attributed to use of alcohol, or lack of a seat belt, air bag, motorcycle helmet, or bicycle helmet, United States, 1982-2001.
Cummings et al.
Inj. Prev. 2006;12:148-154.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Elevated Blood Alcohol and Risk of Injury Among Bicyclists
Komanoff et al.
JAMA 2001;285:2445-2446.
FULL TEXT  

Alcohol is a Risk Factor for Bike Injury
Scheidt
AAP Grand Rounds 2001;5:48-48.
FULL TEXT