Adolescents show no greater incidence of injury from being Tasered than adults, according to researchers who examined data from "real-life" altercations between police and youth.

The study was done by Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in N. Carolina, and funded by the U.S. agency National Institute of Justice.

"We were looking closely for increased risk of cardiac effects and bodily injuries because of the differing body size and build of adolescents, but there were no significant injuries reported for this age group," said the study's lead author, Dr. Alison R. Gardner.

Figures in a database going back to 2005 showed 2,026 records of Taser use, 100 of which involved suspects between the ages of 13 and 17 mostly in cases involving civil disturbance, assault, robbery and burglary. Police knew or believed suspects were intoxicated by drugs or alcohol in about a third of the cases.

"There were 20 mild injuries recorded, and the majority of these were expected superficial puncture wounds from the weapons' probes," Gardner said.

However, she noted, the minors involved were generally more like adults in size, with an average weight of 168 lbs. and height of 5-foot-8.

"This implies that law enforcement personnel are using Tasers as apprehension aids when physical apprehension is not easily accomplished, as would be the case in smaller and younger subjects," she said.

The operational medical director for the Fairfax County Police Department in Virginia, Dr. William E. Hauda, was a co-author of the study, which appears online in the journal Pediatric Emergency Care.