Snow-and-Ice Fracture in the Uk, a Preventable Epidemic

Automated monitoring of clusters of falls associated with severe winter weather using the BioSense system

“…Studies in England have shown that, in icy conditions, the number of fractures per day increased by a factor of 2.5–4.5 22 23. Ice-related falls resulted in fractures in 39% of ED visits at eight hospitals in St Louis24 and in 38% of employee-health visits among US National Institutes of Health personnel25; in comparison, we found fractures associated with 20% of falls visits on cluster days.…”

“…Ice-related falls resulted in fractures in 39% of ED visits at eight hospitals in St Louis24 and in 38% of employee-health visits among US National Institutes of Health personnel25; in comparison, we found fractures associated with 20% of falls visits on cluster days. Population-based data show rates of ED visits for falls because of ice or snow of 162 per 100 000 population in Ontario during 2005–200626 and fracture rates of 60–86 per million per day in England 22 23…”

Surgical risks associated with winter sport tourism

“…Since the 1970s, their incidence has dropped by half while upper extremity fractures and knees sprains became the most common injury types [29,30]. Our results are consistent with previous studies evidencing an increase in the volume of orthopaedic procedures performed during winter around ski resorts [5,6,8,9,10,11,31,32]. The observed peak in emergency admissions for open surgery was primarily associated with tourist populations.…”

Contribution of Weather to the Seasonality of Distal Forearm Fractures: A Population-Based Study in Rochester, Minnesota

“…The seasonal pattern reported for distal forearm fractures is much stronger than that seen for hip fractures and has generally been attributed to the influence of inclement weather on falls [8]. Indeed, 'epidemics' of fractures have been reported during periods of ice and snow [9][10][11][12][13][14]. We previously showed that hip fracture risk was associated with adverse weather conditions among young but not elderly women in Rochester, Minnesota, and that daily weather conditions did not completely account for the winter excess of hip fractures in either age group [15].…”