Geriatric all-terrain vehicle trauma

More than 300 all-terrain vehicle (ATV) trauma deaths occur annually. Most experience to date focuses on the pediatric trauma. However, senior citizens constitute the fastest growing segment of ATV enthusiasts. We queried our trauma registry from January 1988 to December 2002 and found 200 total ATV accidents. There were 8 patients over age 60. We compared geriatric and nongeriatric riders for presentation and outcome data. The anatomic distribution of injury was similar. Younger patients were more likely to have used ethanol or drugs. Tachypnea and hypotension were generally absent at presentation. The geriatric patients had worse predictive physiologic scores. Clinical outcomes for the geriatric group trended toward longer hospital stays, and they had significantly worse functional outcomes. The geriatric group nonsignificantly trended toward a higher mortality (12.5% vs 3.45%). Our study reflects the recent national trend toward a dramatic rise in geriatric ATV-related trauma. We recommend that geriatric ATV safety programs be instituted.