FRIDAY, June 14, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Facial and head injuries from electric scooter accidents have tripled during the past decade, according to a study published online May 20 in the American Journal of Otolaryngology.
Amishav Y. Bresler, M.D., from the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in Newark, New Jersey, and colleagues used data from the Consumer Product Safety Commission National Electronic Injury Surveillance system to identify craniofacial injuries associated with motorized scooter use.
The researchers found that from 2008 to 2017, there were 990 recorded events for craniofacial injuries secondary to motorized scooters. Extrapolating from these data, the researchers estimated 32,001 emergency department visits for craniofacial injuries associated with motorized scooter use. During the 10-year period, the annual incidence tripled. The majority of patients were male (62.1 percent). Injuries were most common among young children 6 to 12 years old (33.3 percent), adolescents 13 to 18 years old (16.1 percent), and young adults 19 to 40 years old (18.0 percent). Closed head injuries were the most common injury type (36.1 percent), followed by lacerations (20.5 percent). Only 5.2 percent of cases included facial fractures. For cases with helmet use data, helmets were not used in two-thirds of the injury cases.
“The United States should standardize electric scooter laws and license requirements should be considered to decrease the risky behaviors associated with motorized scooter use,” Bresler said in a statement.
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