E-bikes – Sparking a warning and tips on prevention
Sarah Huang1, Damian Marucci1, Torey Lawrence1, 1Children’s Hospital Westmead, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Abstract
Background: Electric bikes are becoming an increasingly popular mode of transport worldwide in recent years, which have been met with unique injuries, increasing hospital presentations and admissions as well as safety concerns (DiMaggio et al., 2020. The increasing number of cases of e-bikes and battery-associated paediatric burns illustrates the necessity for addressing safety education and paediatric burns prevention linked to this mode of transport.
Methods: We present a case of 0.25% TBSA dorsal hand, 1st and 2nd digit partial-thickness electrical burn injury in a 17-month-old toddler. This was thought to be caused by exposure to the electrical discharge from a charging e-bike battery plugged into the home AC circuit. This child received complete and timely first aid treatment and was subsequently admitted to our paediatric burns unit for 24 hours of cardiac monitoring with initially elevated CK and Troponin levels that normalised on discharge. All burns were healed on day 16 outpatient clinic review with dressing management.
Conclusions: This highlights the danger of e-bikes, their batteries and charging location and set-up with respect to the potential for burn injury and safety in the home. We suggest strategies for preventing e-bike-related burn injuries that may be used to standardise safety recommendations and education campaigns. Further research should address all types of e-bikes and battery-associated electrical and friction burns in both the adult and paediatric Australian population. This will allow us to gain a broader understanding of e-bike accidents and better guide our burns prevention strategies.
References:
DiMaggio CJ, Bukur M, Wall SP, Frangos SG, Wen AY. Injuries associated with electric-powered bikes and scooters: analysis of US consumer product data. Inj Prev. 2020 Dec;26(6):524-528. doi: 10.1136/injuryprev-2019-043418. Epub 2019 Nov 11. PMID: 31712276.
Johnson, M & Rose, G 2015, Safety implications of e-bikes. Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV), Victoria, Australia.
Biography
Dr Sarah Huang is a burns and plastics surgery registrar in Sydney.