The most fundamental form of clinical research is counting. Before there can be blinded studies or cohort controls, there must be the initial gathering of data. Data regarding incidence and prevalence, severity, etiologies, and mitigating factors must be gathered, sorted, and counted. Riding all terrain vehicles (ATVs) is a popular form of motorized recreation. Approximately 7 million 4-wheel ATVs are estimated to be in use. This article reviews the retrospective experience from 2 level-1 trauma centers dealing with children (<16 years of age) who sustained injuries while riding ATVs. It gives us an initial count of the extent of pediatric genitourinary (GU) injuries sustained while riding an ATV. Of the 11 649 pediatric trauma patients observed during the study period of 1997-2007, only 3.7% were admitted because of ATV-related trauma. Of these, only 13 (0.11%) of all the injured children sustained GU trauma.
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