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BASKETBALL, cycling and American football are the three sports most likely to
put children in hospital in the US. Tina Cheng at the Children’s National
Medical Center in Washington DC surveyed visits to seven local hospitals. She
found that basketball led to the most visits to hospital, followed by cycling
and American football. Cycling injuries were the most likely to result in
hospital admissions (Pediatrics, vol 105, p e32). Over two years,
around 5 per cent of urban teenagers visited hospital with sporting injuries.
Although none of the 2563 injuries was fatal, Cheng believes that most of them
could have been avoided with better supervision.