Cyclists' fractures in the elderly

Cyclists' fractures were as common in the elderly as in the young. In cyclists' fractures in the elderly, the ratio of women and the frequency of upper extremity fractures were significantly lower, compared with the young group.

Bicycles are useful for both men and women of any age as a means of transportation. In the present aging society, it is common for elderly people to ride bicycles in their daily lives. There have been no reports describing the characteristics of elderly cyclists' fractures. We conducted this study to elucidate these characteristics.

Data of cyclists' fractures, excluding head or facial injuries, treated in an urban hospital were retrospectively collected. We documented the mechanism of injury, gender, age, and location of each fracture. We compared the gender, age, and location between cyclists' fractures and non-cyclists' fractures treated in the same period in the same hospital.

Fifty percent of cyclists' fractures occurred in cyclists over 60 years old (23% in their 60s, 19% in their 70s, and 7% in their 80s). The proportion of women was significantly higher among cyclists' fractures than among non-cyclists' fractures in patients under 60 years old (p = 0.0001), but was significantly lower in patients over 60 years old (p = 0.002). We found a significant relationship between the fracture location of three categories (upper extremities, lower extremities, and trunk) and CF/NCF (p = 0.04). The proportion of upper extremity fractures in cyclists compared with non-cyclists was similar under 60 years, but significantly lower in patients over 60 years (p = 0.049).

Our study showed that cyclists' fractures were not uncommon in the elderly. In the elderly group, the ratio of women and the frequency of upper extremity fractures were significantly lower, compared with the young group.