WHEN he was on duty at the Accident and Emergency (A&E) ward, Dr Leong Quor Meng noticed that of the motorcycle casualties, the young ones always seemed more severely injured, or had worse outcomes.

So the registrar at the department of general surgery at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) started a study last December of patients admitted to the A&E ward from 2004 to 2006.

Dr Leong, along with Dr Vijayan Appasamy and Dr Chiu Ming Terk, both senior consultants and specialists in trauma surgery, studied 682 motorcycle casualties aged 16 to 79.

Of these, 96 - or nearly 15 per cent - were aged 21 and below.

Their initial finding: Young pillion riders are the most at risk of serious injury or death if an accident happens.

Dr Leong said: "Young pillion riders are almost three times more likely to die in an accident compared to young motorcyclists they are riding with.

"It's something that should make you think twice if you are young and want to get on a bike with somebody."

Motorcycle casualties aged 21 and below - including riders and pillion riders - had a mortality rate of 14.6per cent. This means that out of every 20 such casualties, three die. This is compared to 8 per cent for older casualties.

But young pillion riders alone had a mortality rate of 29 per cent, or three in 10. Older pillion riders had a mortality rate of one in 10.

The study also found that younger motorcycle accident casualties came to the hospital more severely injured.

Dr Leong said that other studies have also found that should an accident occur, motorcyclists were about 20 times likelier to die compared to car drivers.

To identify high-risk patients and help doctors in their management, Dr Vijayan Appasamy said that the hospital will continue their studies on motorcycle accident victims.

This article was first published in The New Paper on Apr 6, 2008.