Cycling

An estimated 2.9 million Australians cycled for sport in 2019–20.  There were 8,000 injury hospitalisations attributed to cycling as a sport—6,500 male and 1500 female. This was 1400 more than the previous year. For those aged 15 and over, the rate of hospitalisation was 204 per 100,000 participants.

Cycling can be a sport, a leisure activity or a mode of transport. There were 15,200 cycling injury hospitalisations in 2019–20, of which 8,000 were identified as cycling for sport. For more details, see the technical notes.

The age distribution of hospitalisations shows a large spike for the 10–14 age group, and then a lower peak at the 45–49 age group (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Age distribution of injury hospitalisations from cycling for sport, 2019–20

Column graph showing the age distribution of injury hospitalisations.

Source: AIHW NHMD.

For more detail, see data table A14.

Fractures accounted for over half of these hospitalisations (57%) (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Injury hospitalisations from cycling for sport, by type of injury as a proportion, 2019–20

Bar graph showing the proportion of injury hospitalisations by main type of injury.

Note: Type of injury is derived from the principal diagnosis.
Source: AIHW NHMD.

For more detail, see data table A25.

There were 440 hospitalisations for concussion—355 male and 85 female.

The shoulder or arm was the main site of injury in over a third of cases (38%), while the head and neck accounted for more than 1 in 5 cases (22%) (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Injury hospitalisations from cycling for sport, by body part injured, as a proportion, 2019–20

Outline of a person with body regions labelled, marked with the percentage of hospitalised injuries for each region

Note: Body part injured is derived from the principal diagnosis.
Source: AIHW NHMD.

For more detail, see data table A26.

Seasonality and COVID-19

Monthly hospital admissions data suggests that cycling activity (or at least, cycling injuries) tends to increase in the warmer months. An unusual uptick in injury hospitalisations after March 2020 suggests that the COVID-19 lockdowns resulted in more cycling activity than compared with the previous two years (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Injury hospitalisations from cycling for sport, by month of admission, 2017–18 to 2019–20

Line graph with 3 lines for 3 financial years of hospitalisations by month of admission, illustrating the rise in hospitalisations after March 2020.

Notes
1. Months have been standardised to 31 days.
2. A scale up factor has been applied to June admissions to account for cases not yet separated.

Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database.

For more detail, see data table B3.