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Orthopaedic Injuries After Introduction of Electric Scooters to Denver, Colorado
Mia McNulty1, Nicole Look, Katya Strage
1From the Department of Orthopedics, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO (McNulty, Look, and Strage); and Department of Orthopedics, Denver Health Medical Center, Denver CO (Strage, and Lauder).
Introduction:
Cost and efficiency have made electric scooters (e-scooters) popular in urban areas, but many orthopaedic injuries are associated with their use.
Methods:
A retrospective review of e-scooter-related injuries at a level one trauma center identified injury patterns and hospital-associated costs before and after widespread commercial introduction of e-scooters.
Results:
Twenty-three and 197 patients were included in preimplementation and postimplementation groups, respectively. Hospital admission increased from 11% to 62% after commercial introduction. Cost of care increased from $1.8 million to $7.6 million, and 61% of orthopaedic injuries required surgery. The most common orthopaedic injuries were distal radius fractures. Seventy-three percent of the patients tested were intoxicated at the time of injury.
Discussion:
This study categorizes injury patterns and highlights increased hospital-related admissions and surgeries associated with e-scooters. The high rate of intoxicated rider injuries emphasizes the need for laws guiding operation of e-scooters.
