Introduction
There is currently a paucity of literature describing the burden and severity of mountain climbing–related injuries presenting to the emergency department.
Objective
To determine the epidemiology of mountain climbing injuries presenting to US emergency departments.
Methods
The Consumer Product Safety Commission’s National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) is a weighted database that provides a national probability sample of participating hospitals and allows estimation of product-related injuries treated in emergency departments in the United States. The NEISS database was queried for the period January 1, 2012 through December 31, 2014 for product code 1258: “Mountain climbing (activity, apparel or equipment).” The results were analyzed for diagnosis, sex, race, anatomic location of the injury, size of the hospital, and disposition.
Results
The NEISS database provided 367 representative unique cases, resulting in an estimated 14,147 visits nationally during the 3-year period. The patients were predominantly male (65.0%) and white (72.5%), with an average age of 27.6 years. The largest percentage, 34.8% (4922), was seen in small hospitals. Disposition from the ED was discharge in 88.3%, admission in 7.7%, and transfer to another facility in 3.2%. The most common diagnoses were fracture (4008, 28.3%), strain or sprain (3574, 25.3%), and contusions/abrasions (1658, 11.7%). Internal organ injury (611, 4.3%) was less common. The lower extremities were commonly injured, including the ankle (2909, 20.6%), foot (1553, 11.0%), and lower leg (1361, 9.6%). The head (1496, 10.6%) was also a frequently injured body site.
Conclusions
Musculoskeletal injuries commonly were observed in association with products coded as mountain-climbing related. The majority was discharged from the emergency department. Injuries predominately involved the lower extremities; however, 10.6% of patients had an injury to the head. Preventive strategies should focus on lower extremity protection and encourage the use of helmets.