Objectives: To report pediatric injuries requiring hospitalization and deaths related to in-line skating in a children's hospital and to review the trend and description of in-line skating-related pediatric deaths reported by the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) from 1991 to 1995.
Design: The medical records of patients admitted or pronounced dead at Miami Children's Hospital (MCH) related to in-line skating injuries and the NEISS national database pediatric death reports were reviewed and analyzed.
Setting: Tertiary trauma center at a children's hospital in southern Florida and emergency departments that participated in NEISS.
Patients: Pediatric patients who required admission or were pronounced dead for injuries related to in-line skating during a two-year study period at MCH. Pediatric deaths reported to NEISS related to in-line skating from 1991 to 1995.
Results: Eight admissions and one death occurred at MCH and are discussed separately. The median age was 13 years with a range of four, 77% were male. NEISS had 28 cases of pediatric death reported, 96.4% were due to motor vehicle collision with the skater. The median age was 12 years, 81.5% were male. The 0- to 14-year age group represented 57.9% of all injuries in 1994, an increase of 136% from 1993.
Conclusion: We report a pediatric death related to in-line skating and the data from NEISS of pediatric deaths to emphasize the morbidities related to sports involving wheels. In-line skating-related injuries are increasing in the pediatric population in frequency as well as severity. The population at risk is becoming younger and thus education for injury prevention is needed.