Children's E-Bike and E-Scooter Injuries Climbed Sharply in Six-Hospital Study
Injury encounters for children involving e-bikes and e-scooters rose sharply across six pediatric hospitals between January 2023 and March 2026, researchers reported in JAMA, while cautioning the figures cover one hospital network and are not a national rate.
Emergency encounters for children injured on e-bikes and e-scooters climbed steeply across a network of six pediatric hospitals over a little more than three years, researchers reported Monday in JAMA.
The study counted 13,307 injured patients under 18 treated at the six hospitals between January 2023 and March 2026. Measured as quarterly encounters per 10,000 children under 18 in the PEDSnet network, injury rates rose an average of 33 percent per quarter for e-bikes and 15 percent per quarter for e-scooters. The authors said growing use of the devices may be contributing to the increase.
The researchers cautioned that the figures come from a single pediatric hospital network, not a national sample, and that the rates measure encounters per child in the network rather than injuries per ride or per rider.