• Tali Capua, Miguel Glatstein, Karin Hermon, Oren Tavor, Dennis Scolnik, Veronika Kusaev, and Ayelet Rimon.
• Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Dana-Dwek Children's Hospital, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
• Rambam Maimonides Med J. 2019 Jul 18; 10 (3).

BackgroundThe use of electric bicycles (E-bikes) has dramatically increased over the last decade. E-bikes offer an inexpensive, alternative form of transport, but also pose a new public health challenge in terms of safety and injury prevention.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to describe the epidemiology and severity of E-bike related injuries among children treated in the emergency department (ED) and to compare these to manual bicycle related injuries.MethodsA retrospective observational study of all pediatric patients presenting to the ED between December 2014 and November 2015 with an injury related to E-bike or manual bicycle use. Data including demographics, diagnosis, injury severity score (ISS), and outcome were compared.ResultsA total of 196 cyclist injuries presented to the ED; 85 related to E-bike use and 111 to manual bicycle riders. The mean age of E-bikers was 13.7 years (7.5-16 years) and of manual bicycle riders was 9.9 years (3-16 years). Injuries to the head and the extremities were common in both groups. E-bikers had significantly more intra-abdominal organ injury (P=0.047). Injury severity scores were low overall, but injuries of higher severity (ISS>9) only occurred among the E-bikers.ConclusionsPediatric E-bike injuries tend to be more severe than those sustained during manual bicycle riding. Further research into bicycle and other road and pavement users could lead to enhanced regulation regarding E-bike usage.

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