Alcohol use and horseback-riding-associated fatalities--North Carolina, 1979-1989.
In the United States, an estimated 30 million persons ride horses each year (1). Total injury-related morbidity and mortality associated with horseback riding in the United States is unknown; however, during 1976-1987, 205 such fatalities occurred in 27 states (2). Even though alcohol use is a risk behavior for many types of injury, its role in horseback-riding-associated deaths has not yet been established. This report summarizes a study by the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) to characterize all horseback-riding-associated deaths during 1979-1989 and to determine what proportion of riders had used alcohol before death.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D000818:Animals; D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006736:Horses; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009657:North Carolina / Q000453:epidemiology