Upright electric scooters, commonly referred to as e-scooters, have grown in popularity across the country over the past decade. According to a new research summary presented at the 2022 American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference & Exhibition, e-scooter injuries are becoming much more common and increasingly serious.
Authors of the abstract “National Trends in Pediatric e-Scooter Injury” found hundreds of e-scooter injuries between 2011 and 2020. Patient hospitalizations have increased from less than 1 in 20 e-scooter injuries in 2011 to 1 in 8 requiring hospitalization for care in 2020.
“The number of annual e-scooter injuries increased between 2011 and 2020, likely in part due to the rising popularity of e-scooter ride-sharing apps,” said lead author Harrison Hayward, MD, Emergency Medicine fellow at Children’s National Hospital. “Our research has characterized the spectrum of injuries that occur in children, allowing emergency physicians to prepare to care for them and parents and families to practice better safety.”
Researchers examined a national database of e-scooter injuries to children seen in the emergency departments of more than 100 U.S. hospitals between 2011 and 2020 to find out what types of injuries children suffered and if there were any trends. More than 10% of all patients had head injuries, including concussion, skull fractures and internal bleeding. The most common injuries were arm fractures (27%), followed by minor abrasions (22%) and cuts requiring stitches (17%). The mean age was 11.1 years and 59% of patients were male. Hospital admissions increased from 4.2% in 2011 to 12.9% in 2020.
“Parents whose children ride e-scooters need to know how best to be safe. That’s why helmets are a must, as more than 10% of reported cases involved head injuries,” said Dr. Hayward. “Children should absolutely wear helmets when riding an e-scooter. Research has broadly shown that helmets save the lives of cyclists, and we should think the same way about e-scooters.”
The authors received no financial support for this research.
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