WEDNESDAY, Jan. 10, 2024 (HealthDay News) — The incidence of scooter injuries increased from 2016 to 2020, and patients with scooter injuries more often undergo minor operations, according to a study published online Jan. 9 in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

Nam Yong Cho, from the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California in Los Angeles, and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort study using the 2016 to 2020 National Inpatient Sample for patients younger than 65 years who were hospitalized following bicycle and scooter injuries to examine temporal trends and outcomes for scooter- versus bicycle-related hospital admissions.

A total of 92,815 patients were included in the study; 6.6 percent had scooter injuries. The incidence of scooter injuries increased during the study period, and the average injury severity increased significantly for scooter injuries. The researchers found that patients with scooter injuries were more often younger than 18 years compared with those with bicycle injuries (26.7 versus 16.4 percent) and more often underwent minor operations (55.8 versus 48.1 percent). Compared with bicycle injuries, scooter injuries were associated with increased risks for long bone fracture and paralysis after risk adjustment (adjusted odds ratios, 1.40 and 2.06, respectively). Comparable index hospitalization durations of stay and costs were seen for patients with bicycle or scooter injuries.

“Given the growing popularity of scooter usage and its concomitant incidence of injuries, it is imperative to advance the safety standards for riders,” the authors write.

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