Hokkaido brown bear-related human injuries: a public-record cohort with nested clinical characterization
Abstract
Human injuries caused by Hokkaido brown bears have been described in fragmented public and clinical records. We conducted a retrospective descriptive public record cohort study of Hokkaido brown bear attack episodes from 2019 to 2024, supplemented by linked clinical records for selected episodes. The primary aim was to characterize publicly recorded episodes and victims; exploratory analyses compared fatal episode proportions by attack time grouping and broad activity context, and the linked clinical subset was used for descriptive clinical characterization only. Among 28 episodes involving 36 victims, seven (25.0%) were fatal. At the victim level, 17 injuries were minor, 12 severe, and seven fatal. Fatal episodes occurred in seven of 16 solo-coded episodes (43.8%) and none of 11 group-coded episodes (0.0%; two-sided Fisher exact P = 0.0216), an exploratory, noncausal association. Seven victims from five episodes were linked to clinical records. Their injuries included complex craniofacial and soft tissue trauma, ocular injury, open fractures, major vascular injury, and thoracic trauma; all received plastic and reconstructive surgical care, with additional specialty involvement in selected cases. This study describes recent Hokkaido brown bear attack episodes using a public record cohort with transparent source documentation and linked clinical details for selected cases. Because of the small number of episodes, potential public record ascertainment bias, and the nonrepresentative clinical subset, the findings should be interpreted descriptively and as hypothesis generating.
Related
- Wild Boar-Related Injuries in Wilderness Environments: Field-Oriented Management Principles and Evidence-Informed Clinical Recommendations
- Clinical and expert aspects of assessing the daily functioning of military personnel with sequelae of combat-related injuries to the limbs and the peripheral nervous system: the biopsychosocial model, the ICF and modern approaches to expert assessment
- Quantitative MRI Characterization of Fluid-Related Phenotypes in Pediatric Epilepsy: Deep Learning-Assisted Assessment of Enlarged Perivascular Space Burden, Regional Distribution, and Clinical Associations
- Viral metagenomic characterization of HAdV-B-related signals in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from pediatric and adult clinical cohorts
- Urinary Complications and Injuries Related to Vaginal Mesh Surgery for Pelvic Organ Prolapse: Prevention and Management
BibTeX
@article{mitamura2026hokkaido,
title = {{Hokkaido brown bear-related human injuries: a public-record cohort with nested clinical characterization}},
author = {Shintaro Mitamura and Shunichi Oide and Shohei Hayashi and Yuri Shirane and Hifumi Tsuruga and Hino Takafumi and Kazuki Miura and Mizuho Mitamura and Akiko Watanabe and Kosuke Ishikawa and Masayuki Osawa and Taku Maeda},
journal = {Scientific Reports},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1038/s41598-026-70546-x},
url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-70546-x},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Hokkaido brown bear-related human injuries: a public-record cohort with nested clinical characterization
AU - Shintaro Mitamura
AU - Shunichi Oide
AU - Shohei Hayashi
AU - Yuri Shirane
AU - Hifumi Tsuruga
AU - Hino Takafumi
AU - Kazuki Miura
AU - Mizuho Mitamura
AU - Akiko Watanabe
AU - Kosuke Ishikawa
AU - Masayuki Osawa
AU - Taku Maeda
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/23
JO - Scientific Reports
DO - 10.1038/s41598-026-70546-x
UR - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-70546-x
AB - Human injuries caused by Hokkaido brown bears have been described in fragmented public and clinical records. We conducted a retrospective descriptive public record cohort study of Hokkaido brown bear attack episodes from 2019 to 2024, supplemented by linked clinical records for selected episodes. The primary aim was to characterize publicly recorded episodes and victims; exploratory analyses compared fatal episode proportions by attack time grouping and broad activity context, and the linked clinical subset was used for descriptive clinical characterization only. Among 28 episodes involving 36 victims, seven (25.0%) were fatal. At the victim level, 17 injuries were minor, 12 severe, and seven fatal. Fatal episodes occurred in seven of 16 solo-coded episodes (43.8%) and none of 11 group-coded episodes (0.0%; two-sided Fisher exact P = 0.0216), an exploratory, noncausal association. Seven victims from five episodes were linked to clinical records. Their injuries included complex craniofacial and soft tissue trauma, ocular injury, open fractures, major vascular injury, and thoracic trauma; all received plastic and reconstructive surgical care, with additional specialty involvement in selected cases. This study describes recent Hokkaido brown bear attack episodes using a public record cohort with transparent source documentation and linked clinical details for selected cases. Because of the small number of episodes, potential public record ascertainment bias, and the nonrepresentative clinical subset, the findings should be interpreted descriptively and as hypothesis generating.
SN - 2045-2322
ER -