P152. Vertebral fractures and neurological injury associated with increased recreational vehicle use

Abstract

<h3>BACKGROUND CONTEXT</h3> Recreational vehicle use has become increasingly popular over the past decade. The global all-terrain vehicle market size was valued at 3.9 billion USD in 2018 and is expected to grow at a rate of 3.1% between 2019 and 2025. Those who suffer accidents while using such vehicles are prone to spinal injury. However, few have examined this relationship at the national scale. <h3>PURPOSE</h3> The goal of this study was to investigate the trends between recreational vehicle use and spinal injury nationwide. <h3>STUDY DESIGN/SETTING</h3> This was a retrospective study reviewing the number of spinal injury cases involved with recreational vehicle use nationwide, utilizing the NEISS (National Electronic Injury Surveillance System) database. <h3>PATIENT SAMPLE</h3> This study isolated spinal injury cases associated with recreational vehicles, ranging from bicycles to four wheeled ATVs, two wheeled ATVs, and other all-terrain vehicles, and evaluated the rate of neurological injury and vertebral fractures in these cases. <h3>OUTCOME MEASURES</h3> Measures evaluated included proportions of vertebral fractures and nerve injuries related to recreational vehicle use. <h3>METHODS</h3> National estimates, standard errors, and 95% confidence intervals were derived using the provided survey parameters in the NEISS database. Crude rate was defined as number of cases per 100,000 persons. Significance was determined using adjusted Wald tests, for which p<.05 (2-sided) were considered significant. Proportions of fracture and nerve injury by recreational vehicle were determined by Pearson's Chi-Squared Test between bicycles, four wheeled ATVs, two wheeled ATVs, and other all-terrain, recreational vehicles. <h3>RESULTS</h3> A total of 56,349 spine injuries related to recreational vehicle use were isolated from the database. Injuries located in the lower trunk/lumbar vertebrae were most common (47.9%). A total of 78.0% of all spine injuries were experienced by males. Between 2010 and 2019, there was an increase in national cases of spine injury involving recreational vehicles (p<0.00001). Nerve injury was more prevalent in four wheeled ATVs (10.2%) when compared to all-terrain vehicles and two wheeled powered vehicles (2.93%) (p<0.0001). Lumbar spine injury, despite being the most prevalent region of spine injury, showed lower odds (p<0.0001) of being admitted. <h3>CONCLUSIONS</h3> With the increasing popularity of recreational vehicles, there is high concern for traumatic spinal injury. This study was able to identify increasing numbers of spinal injury related to such vehicle use. Such injuries are not trivial and lead to not only life-altering limitations for patients but also increasing health care costs. Physicians and patients alike should remain aware and discuss the potential harms regarding the use of recreational vehicles and their high risk for spinal injury. <h3>FDA DEVICE/DRUG STATUS</h3> This abstract does not discuss or include any applicable devices or drugs.