The older you get, the riskier it is to ride an escalator—especially if you’re a woman.

An analysis of emergency room data compiled for the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission shows that adults age 65 and up require an average 2,660 emergency room visits for escalator-related injuries annually; children require about 2,000 visits.

The rate of escalator injuries among older people more than doubled from 1991 to 2005, from 4.9 to 11 injuries per 100,000 riders. And the older the rider, the greater the risk: The injury rate for 80- to 84-year-olds is three times that for 65- to 69-year-olds. And women have more than twice as many injuries as men.

Why? Women tend to be in more areas with escalators, such as shopping malls, and “tend to carry more purses and bags,” says one of the study’s leaders, Joseph O’Neil, M.D., of the Indiana University School of Medicine. The study was published in the Accident Analysis and Prevention journal.

CPSC officials advise all escalator riders—no matter what age—to be particularly careful if wearing soft-sided plastic shoes, such as Crocs. It links 77 escalator entrapments with this footwear since January 2006.

The manufacturer of Crocs says it takes escalator safety seriously. In a recent statement to an ABC affiliate in San Francisco, the company said, “Riders of all ages should step on and off escalators and moving walkways with caution, stand only in the middle of the steps, hold on to the handrail, and ensure shoelaces are tied and loose clothing is clear of steps and sides.”