Re: Rise in injury rates for older male motorcyclists: Authors reply

Issue: BCMJ, vol. 56, No. 10, December 2014, Pages 474-475 Letters
By: Mariana Brussoni, PhD, Kendra Wong, BA Genevieve Creighton, PhD, Lise Olsen, RN, PhD,
Related To:

Rise in injury rates for older male motorcyclists: An emerging medical and public health concern

Re: Rise in injury rates for older male motorcyclists

Thank you, Dr Munn, for your letter and the opportunity to further discuss the important issue of injuries among older male motorcyclists. We agree that a limitation of our study was our inability to include data on the number of motorcyclists on the road. We would also venture to say that the more useful figure would indicate not only the number and age of motorcyclists on the road, but also the time spent or distance traveled on the motorbikes, in order to indicate with greater accuracy whether injury rates are rising for older riders when controlling for exposure. This would require a different kind of study.

Regardless of these measurement issues, the fact remains that motorcycle-related injury hospitalization rates and associated costs are rising significantly among older males, while rates among younger males are dropping. It behooves the health community to do what we can to prevent these injuries. You point to the importance of education strategies for automobile and motorcycle drivers. We further recommend developing evidence-based injury prevention initiatives targeted at and sensitive to the needs of older male riders. 
—Mariana Brussoni, PhD
—Kendra Wong, BA
—Genevieve Creighton, PhD
—Lise Olsen, RN, PhD

Mariana Brussoni, PhD,, Kendra Wong, BA, Genevieve Creighton, PhD,, Lise Olsen, RN, PhD,. Re: Rise in injury rates for older male motorcyclists: Authors reply. BCMJ, Vol. 56, No. 10, December, 2014, Page(s) 474-475 - Letters.


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