The growing use of electric bikes and scooters has caused a surge in brain and spine injuries among urban riders and pedestrians, a new study shows.
Led by NYU Langone Health researchers, the study found that these injuries now account for nearly 7 percent of trauma patients admitted into one New York City hospital.
Published online April 15 in Neurosurgery, a publication of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, the work analyzed 914 patients treated for injuries linked to both pedal-powered and electric micromobility devices at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue over five years. The research team found that one-third of patients suffered traumatic brain injury, more than two-thirds required hospital admission, and roughly 30 percent needed intensive care. The share of trauma cases seen in the emergency room (whether patients were admitted or not) that involved such devices increased from less than 10 percent in 2018 to more than 50 percent by 2023.
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