Epidemiological profile of hospitalised injuries among electric bicycle riders admitted to a rural hospital in Suzhou: a cross-sectional study. Issue 2 (1st June 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Du, Wei; Yang, Jie; Powis, Brent; Zheng, Xiaoying; Ozanne-Smith, Joan; Bilston, Lynne; He, JingLin; Ma, Ting; Wang, Xiaofei; Wu, Ming
• Is Part Of: Injury prevention. Volume 20:Issue 2(2014)
• Page Start: 128
• Page End: 133
• Publication Date: 2013-06-01
• Subjects: Children's accidents -- Prevention -- Periodicals; Accidents -- Prevention -- Periodicals; 617.1
• DOI: 10.1136/injuryprev-2012-040618
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1353-8047

Abstract

Abstract : Police reports indicate an increasing burden of electric bike (E-bike) casualties in China; however, hospitalised injury data have not been reported. The aim of the present work was to describe hospitalised injury patterns for E-bikers involved in road crashes and explore injury risk disparities among them. For the period October 2010 to April 2011, this cross-sectional study retrospectively collected information for hospitalised E-bikers involved in road crashes from hospital records, in Suzhou China, using the International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision (ICD-10) injury diagnosis codes. Injury nature and body region were further categorised using ICD-10 codes. Multivariate logistic regression was used to assess the risk of specific injury types. We found that hospitalised E-biker injuries (n=323) accounted for 57.2% of road traffic hospitalisations over the 6-month study period. The average age, length of stay and hospitalisation cost were 43.8 years, 10.0 days and ¥8229 (US$1286), respectively. Fractures and head injuries were common. The odds of traumatic brain injuries were significantly elevated for night-time E-bike crashes and incidents other than colliding with motor vehicles. These findings confirm E-bike injuries as an important population health problem and identify elevated injury odds in different E-biker groups. Future injury prevention initiatives should include encouraging helmet use among E-bikers.