NEISS 1997 Horse Related Injuries

**Part of Body Injured**
	79-82	%	87-91	%	92-96	%	TOTAL	%
Trunk	44819	26.7	85304	29.9	114390	33.8	244513	30.9
U Extrem	46128	27.5	69698	24.5	81151	24.0	196977	24.9
L Extrem	41951	24.9	65208	22.9	68224	20.2	175383	22.2
Head	31030	18.5	51146	18.0	60550	17.9	142727	18.0
Neck	3230	1.9	3823	1.3	8263	2.4	15316	1.9
25-50 %	454	0.3	8914	3.1	4281	1.3	13649	1.7
All Body	74	0.0	814	0.3	1852	0.5	2740	0.3
Unknown	276		111		751		1138
Known	167686		284907		338711		791305
Total	167962		285018		339462		792443

**Type of Injury**
	79-82	%	87-91	%	92-96	%	Total	%
Contusion/Abrasion	64225	38.3	93766	32.9	102576	30.2	260567	32.9
Fracture	42329	25.2	80348	28.7	99585	29.3	222262	28.1
Sprain/Strain	27031	16.1	48326	16.9	55460	16.3	130816	16.5
Laceration	16564	9.9	25683	9.0	28766	8.5	71013	9.0
Concussion	6154	3.7	10044	3.5	11612	3.4	27810	3.5
Internal Injury	1255	0.7	7990	2.8	12800	3.8	22045	2.8
Other	1810	1.1	4492	1.6	11442	3.4	17744	2.2
Dislocation	3624	2.2	6234	2.2	6501	1.9	16359	2.1
Hemotoma	1928	1.1	3260	1.1	4045	1.2	9233	1.2

All others had less than 1% incidence.

**Head Injuries**
Year	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996
Head Injuries	17.50%	17.82%	17.92%	16.88%	17.99%	18.69%	17.72%
Concussion	2.05%	4.30%	3.66%	3.49%	3.53%	4.31%	1.95%

**Ages of Persons Injured**
Year	78-82	%	87-91	%	92-96	%	Total	%
Unk	0	0.0	112	0.5	132	0.0	244	0.0
0-4	3318	2.0	5111	1.8	7301	2.2	15730	2.0
5-14	45504	27.1	59513	20.9	68421	20.2	173438	21.9
15-24	56185	33.5	70454	24.7	70851	20.9	197490	24.9
25-44	49570	29.6	116873	41.0	134389	39.65	300832	38.0
45-64	11422	6.8	27715	9.7	52561	15.5	91698	11.6
65+	1685	1.0	5352	1.9	5808	1.7	12845	1.6
Total	167684		185018		339331		792033

**Place of Accident**
Place/Year	79-82	%	97-91	%	92-96	%	Total	%
Home	40557	30.2	75492	42.3	73320	42.1	189369	38.9
Sports	47129	35.!	42508	23.8	54112	31.1	143749	29.5
Farm	28240	21.0	35681	20.0	20205	11.6	84126	17.3
Public	11274	8.4	19597	11.0	22604	13.0	53475	11.0
Street	5222	3.9%	4574	2.6	2721	1.6	12517	2.6
School	1774	1.3	675	0.4	1066	0.6	3515	0.7
Total	134196		178527		174028		486751

**Home/Sports Injuries by Year**
Year	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996
% Home	29.8	26.6	21.9	23.0	20.3	22.7	20.7
% Sports	14.2	16.1	15.1	15.2	15.8	18.5	15.7

**Injuries by Gender and Year**
	79-82	%	87-91	%	92-96	%	Total	%
Male	64964	38.8	123631	43.4	141021	41.5	329616	41.6
Female	102612	61.2	161500	56.6	198399	58.5	462511	58.4
Total	167576		285131		339420		792127

NEISS has provided its figures on horse related injuries for 14 years divided into 1979- 1982. and the two five year periods 1987-1991 and 1992-1996. NEISS stopped recording horse related injuries in 1983 and did not resume until 1987.

Neiss Cht

**Injuries by Year**
YEAR	INJURIES
1990	74349
1991	71490
1992	73685
1993	68517
1994	71248
1995	65696
1996	60316

Preliminary conclusions:

1. The total number of injuries have had an irregular decrease but show the greatest decrease in 1996.

2. The percent of head injuries have had very small changes.

3. Concussions have been essentially unchanged, but there has been a decrease in 1996.

4. The injured between the ages 5-14 and 15-24 years have decreased in the percent of total injuries in each time period while the ages 25-44 and 45-64 years have shown an increase in the percent of total injuries in the same time periods.

5. The gender difference in the percent of accidents show a decrease in the percent of female injuries from 1979-1982 with a corresponding increase in the male injuries. Females had 61.8% of the injuries in 1990 but this had decreased to 54.7% by 1996.

6. In the location involved the percent of injured at “home” have had an increase since 1979-82, but have not risen in the past five years. The percent of injuries in “sport” after a decline in 1987-1991 have increased in the last five years.

National Electronic Surveillance System
Consumer Product Safety Commission
National Information Clearing House
Washington, DC 20207

NEISS Horse Related Injuries Editorial Comment

Protective headgear does not appear to have reduced the percent of head injuries, but the decrease has been in the total number of injuries. If 1996 can be considered the beginning of a trend, concussion with head injury may have decreased. The ages of those injured has shown the greatest change with youth and young adults decreasing their percent of injuries. Persons in the ages 25-44 years after an initial increase in 1987-1992 did not continue the increase in 1992-1996 of their percent of horse related injuries. The ages over 45 years have shown the greatest percent increase in injuries. This may show that youth and young adults follow the rules of safety and accident prevention, while the older riders remain bound by tradition.

Sports which should provide role models by their use of protective headgear and concern for safety, have shown a percent increase in injuries. One cannot wonder if the mandatory use of protective headgear in organized events during part of the years of 1989-1992 might have resulted in the lower number of injuries. Females have reduced their percent of injuries from 1979-1982, but this decrease has not continued in the time spans 1987-91 to 1992-96. (See AMEA News, November 1996, November 1995, February 1994, November 1992.)

Doris Bixby Hammett, MD