Increase in older adults reporting mountaineering-related injury or illness in the united states, 1973-2010

摘要

Older adults are a growing injury population in the United States. We analyzed US climbing and mountaineering-related injuries and illness including fatalities recorded in Accidents in North American Mountaineering as an indirect assessment of changes during the past several decades in the proportion of older adults involved in mountaineering accidents. Statistical tables from this source summarize mountaineering accidents occurring in the United States from 1951 to 2010. From 1973 onward, cases were grouped into 7 age categories, with the oldest age group being individuals older than 50. Before 1973, the oldest age group recognized was individuals older than 35. Data from Canada were not included in the analysis because data were not available from 2006 onward.