Pediatric E-Scooter and Traditional Scooter Injuries: Emergency Department Visits 2015-2024

Electronic scooters (e-scooters) are increasing in popularity. We sought to compare pediatric e-scooters to traditional scooter injuries, analyze risk factors for non-home disposition, and evaluate injury trends.

We performed a retrospective, cross-sectional study of ED visits for scooter injuries from 2015 to 2024, utilizing the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, utilizing product codes to identify mechanisms. We compared e-scooter to traditional scooter injuries, and home disposition to non-home disposition (resulting in hospitalization, transfer, or death), using proportion differences and multivariable modeling adjusting for age, sex, and injury characteristics. We described time trends in ED visits for e-scooter injuries.

We identified 18,254 (population estimate 502,324) ED visits for scooter injuries, of which 3094 [population estimate 91,523 (18.2%)] were e-scooters. E-scooter injuries were more common among males and in older children (age 12 to 18 y). Compared with traditional scooter injuries, e-scooter injuries were more likely to result in admission (adjusted OR: 1.73; 95% CI: 1.2-2.42) and internal injuries (12.1% e-scooter, 9.0% traditional scooter; P < 0.05). E-scooter injuries were associated with increased odds of non-home disposition compared with traditional scooters (adjusted OR: 2.99, 95% CI: 1.66, 5.41). Overall, e-scooter injuries made up an increasing percentage of pediatric ED visits over the study period (annualized OR: 1.22; 95% CI: 1.17-1.28).

E-scooter injuries, compared with traditional scooter injuries, are associated with more non-home disposition and specific injury patterns, and are increasing as a proportion of ED injury visits over the past 10 years. These findings inform providers and the public of risks associated with pediatric e-scooter use.