TY - JOUR
T1 - Age as a Predictive Factor in Severity of Injuries in Riders of Electric Bikes and Powered Scooters
T2 - A Retrospective Cross-Sectional Study
AU - Hamzani, Yafit
AU - Demtriou, Helena
AU - Zelnik, Adi
AU - Cohen, Nir
AU - Drescher, Michael J.
AU - Chaushu, Gavriel
AU - Yahya, Bahaa Haj
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors.
PY - 2022/9
Y1 - 2022/9
N2 - The growth in worldwide popularity of electric bikes (E-bikes) and powered scooters (P-scooters) has been accompanied by an increase in injuries associated with their use. The aim of this study was to evaluate the contribution of rider age to injury severity, represented by need for hospitalization. A retrospective review of the database of a tertiary medical center yielded 1234 patients (75.7% male) who attended the emergency department (ED) in 2014–2020 for injuries sustained while riding an E-bike or P-scooter. Mean age was 31.52 ± 14.77 years: 23% were aged <20 years; 33%, 21–30 years; 23%, 31–40 years; 10%, 41–50 years; 11%, >51 years. Ninety patients (7.3%) were hospitalized. Older age was significantly associated with the need for hospitalization on univariate analysis (p <.001), but significance was not maintained on binary logistic regression (OR = 1.02, 95%CI 0.99–1.06; p = 0.11). Patients who underwent imaging evaluation in the ED were at lower risk of hospitalization, and patients who had surgery or a relatively long operative procedure were at higher risk of hospitalization. The study shows that older age (>51 years) is not associated with a significantly increased probability of severe injury in E-bike and P-scooter riders. This finding has important implications for insurers and healthcare administrators.
AB - The growth in worldwide popularity of electric bikes (E-bikes) and powered scooters (P-scooters) has been accompanied by an increase in injuries associated with their use. The aim of this study was to evaluate the contribution of rider age to injury severity, represented by need for hospitalization. A retrospective review of the database of a tertiary medical center yielded 1234 patients (75.7% male) who attended the emergency department (ED) in 2014–2020 for injuries sustained while riding an E-bike or P-scooter. Mean age was 31.52 ± 14.77 years: 23% were aged <20 years; 33%, 21–30 years; 23%, 31–40 years; 10%, 41–50 years; 11%, >51 years. Ninety patients (7.3%) were hospitalized. Older age was significantly associated with the need for hospitalization on univariate analysis (p <.001), but significance was not maintained on binary logistic regression (OR = 1.02, 95%CI 0.99–1.06; p = 0.11). Patients who underwent imaging evaluation in the ED were at lower risk of hospitalization, and patients who had surgery or a relatively long operative procedure were at higher risk of hospitalization. The study shows that older age (>51 years) is not associated with a significantly increased probability of severe injury in E-bike and P-scooter riders. This finding has important implications for insurers and healthcare administrators.
KW - age
KW - electric bikes
KW - emergency department
KW - injury
KW - powered scooters
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85138515204&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/healthcare10091689
DO - 10.3390/healthcare10091689
M3 - ???researchoutput.researchoutputtypes.contributiontojournal.article???
C2 - 36141301
AN - SCOPUS:85138515204
SN - 2227-9032
VL - 10
JO - Healthcare (Switzerland)
JF - Healthcare (Switzerland)
IS - 9
M1 - 1689
ER -