Climbing-Related Injury Among Adults in the United States: 5-Year Analysis of the National Emergency Department Sample

Abstract

Most persons with climbing-related injuries presenting to EDs do not require inpatient admission. Although death is rare among patients with climbing-related injuries, the costs of injuries in survivors remain high.

Climbing Accidents—Prospective Data Analysis from the International Alpine Trauma Registry and Systematic Review of the Literature

“…Forrester et al performed a retrospective analysis of emergency department (ED) visits in the US from 2010 to 2014 [10]. They reported a weighted estimate of 15,116 adult ED visits associated with climbing-related injury.…”

“…The number of rock climbers presenting to US Emergency Departments for rock climbing-related injuries ranges from 3023 (±149) [10] to 3816 (±854) [12] per year. Schussmann et al found an incidence of 2.5 accidents per 1000 mountaineers per year or 5.6 injuries per 10,000 hours of mountaineering [13].…”

“…According to Buzzacott et al, the age group from 20-39 years account for 60% of injured rock climbers [12]. Forrester et al described a mean age of 32.8 (±14.7) years [10].…”

“…The fatality rate from rock climbing accidents varies quite significantly: Forrester et al found a mortality rate of <1% [10], Lack et al reported 5.5% [7], Bowie et al 6% [14] and Schussmann et al 20% [13], whereas Ferris et al reported a fatality rate of 41% [18]. Falls on snow or ice or during ice climbing were more likely to be fatal [9,14,17,19,20].…”

“…Forrester et al were the only to describe the cost of climbing-related injuries to the US health care system, which are approximately 102 (95% CI: 75-130) million USD for the 5 year period, averaging 20 ± 9.5 million USD per year. More than one-tenth of patients required hospital admission as inpatients after a climbing accident [10,21].…”