title: Prevention of child camel jockey injuries: a success story from the United Arab Emirates.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the effects of a law banning children from taking part in camel racing on child camel jockey injuries in Al-Ain City, United Arab Emirates.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective study.
  
  
  METHODS
  University Teaching Hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  All patients who were admitted to Al-Ain Hospital and were injured while riding camels were prospectively studied between January 1, 2002, and December 31, 2009.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two periods, before the law and after its introduction, were compared.
  
  
  METHODS
  Pediatric injuries, their anatomical distribution, and severity of injury.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fifty-four patients were studied, and all were males. There were 13 children and 41 adults. All children were camel jockeys except 1 child who was riding a camel for fun. None of the adult camel riders was a camel jockey. The median (range) age of patients admitted before the law was 12.5 (5-45) years, which was significantly less compared with 27.2 (20-40) years after its introduction (P = 0.001, Mann-Whitney test). All 13 children sustained their injuries before the law was implemented, whereas 12 of 41 adults sustained their injuries before the legislation was in place (P < 0.0001, Fisher exact test). The total length of hospital stay of patients was significantly reduced after the law enforcement (P < 0.01, Mann-Whitney test).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings emphasize the important role of law enforcement in injury prevention, illustrated by the replacement of children by robot substitutes. This is possibly one of the few examples where child injury has been completely prevented by legislation.
authors.affiliation: Trauma Group, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, UAE University, Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates. fabuzidan@uaeu.ac.ae
authors.forename: Fikri M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Abu-Zidan
authors.forename: Ashraf F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Hefny
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Branicki
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002162:Camelus; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000517:prevention & control; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000517:prevention & control; D005151:Facial Injuries / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D007902:Length of Stay; D035002:Lower Extremity / Q000293:injuries; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014479:United Arab Emirates; D055815:Young Adult