WEDNESDAY, Dec. 11, 2024 (HealthDay News) — From 2019 to 2022, there was an increase in electric-powered scooter and bike (e-scooter/bike)-related injuries resulting in emergency department visits, according to a study published online Dec. 9 in Injury Prevention.
Edwin Akomaning, Ph.D., from North Dakota State University in Fargo, and colleagues examined trends and factors associated with e-scooter/bike-related injuries and alcohol/substance use emergency department visits from 2019 to 2022 in a retrospective analysis of data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System.
Data were included for 4,020 e-scooter/bike injury emergency department visits: 3,700 e-scooters and 320 e-bikes (weighted estimates: 279,990 and 16,600, respectively). The researchers observed a threefold increase in visits from 2019 to 2022 (22,835 to 65,892). Most of the injuries involved males (79.6 and 79.7 percent of e-scooter and e-bike injuries, respectively), those aged 18 to 39 years (51.5 and 48.5 percent, respectively), and non-Hispanic Whites (34.9 and 38.8 percent, respectively). In 8.6 and 2.5 percent of e-scooter and e-bike injury-related emergency department visits, alcohol use was reported. Compared with females, males had higher odds of alcohol- and substance use-associated emergency department visits (odds ratios, 2.61 and 2.23, respectively). Those aged 10 to 17 years had 7.5 and 4.1 times higher odds of alcohol and substance use, respectively, leading to e-scooter and e-bike injury-related emergency department visits compared with the 18- to 39-year-old age group.
“As these forms of transportation gain popularity, institutions, governments, health care practitioners, and the general public must work together to develop effective risk mitigation strategies,” the authors write.
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