Panic Over a New Phenomenon Among Kids: Hoverboard Related Injuries at a Pediatric Emergency Department

Abstract

Understanding how the use of hoverboards (HBs) can affect a child’s safety is crucial. We describe the characteristics of HB related injuries and provide key messages about child prevention when using these leisure devices. This was a retrospective study at an emergency department (ED) of a level-III-trauma center from 2016 to 2019. We tested the differences in children presenting for injury associated with HBs between 2016–2017 and 2018–2019. The rate of injury associated with HBs / Injury per 1,000 increased from 0.84 in 2016 to 7.7 in 2017, and then there was a gradual decline. The likelihood of injury was more common in younger children, increasing by 17% with decreasing age in 2018–2019 compared with 2016–2017 (OR: 0.83; 95%CI: 0.71–0.97; p = 0.021). The occurrence of injury in the April-June period was over twice as common in 2018–2019 (OR: 2.05; 95%CI: 1.0-2.05; p = 0.05). Patients were over 4 times more likely to have injured the lower extremity during the 2018–2019 period rather than other body regions (OR: 4.58; 95%CI: 1.23–4.58; p = 0.02). The odds of the indoor injury were more than twice as high in 2018–2019 (OR: 2.04; 95%CI: 1.077–2.04; p = 0.03). Conclusion: Despite a decrease in the frequency of HB related injuries after 2017, during the 2018–2019 period, the younger the children, the more they were exposed to injury risk, in addition to a greater occurrence of indoor injuries from HBs compared with 2016–2017. The enhancement of preventive measures is necessary to ensure child safety when using HBs.