The number of children and teenagers getting injured in motorbike accidents increased by 50 percent from 1995 to 2001, suggesting more young people are riding unsafely, an Ohio study indicates.

Investigators at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and the Children’s Hospital of Columbus found that most children injured using motorbikes - that is, mopeds or dirt bikes intended for off-road use - were not wearing helmets at the time.

Most also sustained more than one injury, indicating these were serious accidents, study author Dr. Wendy J. Pomerantz told AMN Health.

She cautioned that she and her colleagues looked only at injuries reported to six pediatric hospitals in Ohio, and they did not examine records collected from morgues or hospitals outside of Ohio.

“This is clearly the tip of the iceberg,” she said in an interview.

Anyone who wants to ride motorbikes should wear protective clothing and helmets, ride in daylight, and carry only one person per bike, Pomerantz recommended. She added that teenagers should be supervised while on motorbikes, and young children shouldn’t even try it.

“Young kids should not be riding these, period,” she said.

In the journal Pediatrics, Pomerantz and her colleagues write that between 1994 and 1996, emergency departments treated approximately 40,000 injuries from off-road two-wheeled vehicles, 26 percent of which occurred in people younger than 15.

In Ohio, motorbike-riders are not required to wear helmets.

To further investigate how many children younger than 16 are getting hurt using motorbikes, the researchers reviewed information collected from six hospitals between 1995 and 2001.

They discovered that 182 children - an average age of 11 - were hospitalized due to motorbike injuries. More than half hadn’t worn helmets, and nearly 70 percent had more than one injury as a result of the accident.

The most common injuries were to the legs, head and abdomen/pelvis. During the study period, the number of motorbike accidents among kids less than 16 increased by 50 percent.

Pomerantz noted that in many cases, parents don’t realize their kids are not wearing helmets.

She urged parents to set an example. When they ride with children, many strap a helmet onto their little one and forget themselves - which sends a dangerous message, Pomerantz said, by telling kids they don’t need helmets when they get older.

SOURCE: Pediatrics, March 2005.