Snow sports

Tobogganing, skiing, and snowboarding are naturally very popular in cold climates. From 1991 to 1997, Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children received 147 admissions for life threatening or serious injuries to children after accidents in the snow, with one fatality. Snowboarding was associated with more serious injuries than skiing or tobogganing, most frequently head injuries, long bone fractures, and liver or spleen trauma. The mean age of 13 years indicates a group of children entering the rapid growth phase of adolescence for whom growth limiting injuries have the greatest potential for harm. Snowboards and toboggans lack effective braking mechanisms and snowboards have no steering system. Improving conditions at ski resorts such as clearing obstacles from the slopes, encouraging the wearing of helmets, and improving training for novices are possible areas of preventive effort deserving of further investigation (

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Is sudden death at school due to activity or weather?

In 12 years in Japan's Aichi prefecture, 76 children died without obvious cause at …