Major trauma among E-Scooter and bicycle users: a nationwide cohort study

Objectives: To determine the incidence, demographics and injury patterns involved in E-Scooter-related hospital admissions due to significant trauma compared with bicycle-related trauma within England and Wales. To compare morbidity and mortality between groups.

Design: A retrospective cohort study based on data which has been prospectively collected and submitted to the UK Trauma Audit and Research Network (TARN) registry.

Setting: Major trauma centres and trauma units within England and Wales.

Participants: Patients of any age who were admitted to hospitals in England and Wales with injuries following E-Scooter or bicycle incidents between the dates 1 January 2021-31 December 2021. All patients must have met TARN database inclusion criteria.

Outcomes: In-hospital mortality, critical care admission and length of stay (LoS), hospital LoS and discharge destination.

Results: There were 293 E-Scooter trauma incidents compared with 2538 bicycle incidents. E-Scooter users were more likely to be admitted to a major trauma centre (p=0.019) or a critical care unit (p<0.001). Serious head and limb trauma (Abbreviated Injury Scale >2) occurred more frequently among the E-Scooter cohort (35.2% vs 19.7%, p<0.001 and 39.9% vs 27.2%, p<0.001, respectively) while serious chest and pelvic trauma were greater among bicycle users (p<0.001 and p=0.003, respectively). Over one-third of E-Scooter injuries were incurred outside the current legislation by patients who were intoxicated by alcohol and drugs (26%, 75/293) or under the age of 17 (14%, 41/293).

Conclusions: These early results suggest a greater relative incidence of serious trauma and an alternative pattern of injury among E-Scooter users compared with bicycles.

Trial registration number: TARN210101.