E-scooter injuries in 13-17 year olds doubled and hospitalization tripled in the last decade

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E-scooter injuries in children and adolescents are “becoming much more common and increasingly severe,” according to a 10-year study presented at the 2022 American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference and discussed in an AAP press release. While upper extremity injuries were the most common, “Over 10% of all patients had a head injury, including a concussion, skull fractures, and internal bleeding.” The average patient was an 11-year-old boy, despite the AAP recommendation that “that children under 16 who are too young to have a driver’s license should not operate or ride on motorized or e-scooters.” 

Harrison Hayward et al. studied “a national database of pediatric e-scooter injuries that were seen in emergency departments (ER) at over 100 US hospitals from 2011-2020.” During this period, the proportion of e-scooter ER patients who were 13-18 years more than doubled, from 19% to 42%. Worse, the proportion of pediatric patients requiring hospital admission (from the ER) tripled during that time, from “from fewer than 1 out of every 20 e-scooter injuries in 2011 to 1 out of every 8 requiring admittance into a hospital for care in 2020.”