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Citation
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Cho NY, Kim S, Tran Z, Hadaya J, Ali K, Kronen E, Burruss S, Benharash P. J. Am. Coll. Surg. 2024; ePub(ePub): ePub. |
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Abstract
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BACKGROUND: In recent years, the adoption of electric scooters has been accompanied by a surge of scooter-related injuries in the US, raising concerns for their severity and associated healthcare costs. The present study aimed to assess temporal trends and outcomes of scooter-related hospital admissions compared to bicycle-related hospitalizations.
METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study utilizing the 2016-2020 National Inpatient Sample for patients younger than 65 years old who were hospitalized following bicycle and scooter injuries. The Trauma Mortality Prediction Model (TMPM) was used to quantify injury severity. The primary outcome of interest was temporal trends of micromobility injuries. In-hospital mortality, rates of long bone fracture, traumatic brain injury (TBI), paralysis, length of stay, hospitalization costs, and non-home discharge were secondarily assessed.
RESULTS: Among 92,815 patients included in the study, 6,125 (6.6%) were scooter injuries. Compared to those with bicycle injuries, patients with scooter injuries were more commonly younger than 18 years (26.7 vs 16.4%, P<0.001) and frequently underwent major operations (55.8 vs 48.1%, P<0.001). After risk adjustment, scooter injuries were associated with greater risks of long bone fracture (AOR 1.40, 95%CI 1.15-1.70) and paralysis (AOR 2.06, 95%CI 1.16-3.69) compared to bicycle injuries. Additionally, patients with bicycle or scooter injuries had comparable index hospitalization durations of stay and costs.
CONCLUSION: The prevalence and severity of scooter-related injuries have significantly increased in the US, thereby attributing to a substantial cost burden on the healthcare system. Multidisciplinary efforts to inform safety policies and enact targeted interventions are warranted to reduce scooter-related injuries.
Language: en |