TY - JOUR PY - 2020// TI - Electric scooter injury in Southern California trauma centers JO - Journal of the American Academy of Surgeons A1 - Dhillon, Navpreet K. A1 - Juillard, Catherine A1 - Barmparas, Galinos A1 - Lin, Ting-Lung A1 - Kim, Dennis Y. A1 - Turay, David A1 - Seibold, Alyssa R. A1 - Kaminski, Stephen A1 - Duncan, Thomas K. A1 - Diaz, Graal A1 - Saad, Shawki A1 - Hanpeter, David A1 - Benjamin, Elizabeth R. A1 - Tillou, Areti A1 - Demetriades, Demetrios A1 - Inaba, Kenji A1 - Ley, Eric J. SP - ePub EP - ePub VL - ePub IS - ePub N2 - BACKGROUND: Electric scooters are popular in Southern California due to their ease of use, affordability, and availability. The objective of this study was to characterize how hospital admissions and outcomes varied due to electric scooter injuries among Southern California trauma centers. STUDY DESIGN: Trauma registry data from nine urban trauma centers were queried for patients sustaining injuries while operating an electric scooter from January to December 2018. Data collection included patient demographics, diagnoses, interventions, and outcomes.

RESULTS: During the one-year study period, 87 patients required trauma surgeon care due to scooter related injury with a mean age of 35.1 years and 71.3% being male with 20.7% and 17.2% of patients requiring ICU admission and a surgical intervention, respectively. One (1.1%) patient died. The head and face were most commonly injured, followed by the extremities. Helmet use was uncommon (71.3%). High variability in patient volume was noted, with two centers considered high-incidence and the remaining low-incidence.

CONCLUSION: Injuries from electric scooter crashes are primarily to the head, face, and extremities with approximately one in five patients requiring ICU admission and/or a surgical intervention. There is significant variation in patient volume among Southern California trauma centers that could impact the delivery of care with the abrupt introduction of this technology. Targeted public health interventions and policies might better address community utilization of the electric scooter.

Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 1072-7515 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2020.02.047 ID - ref1 ER -