Citation

Zimmerman DR, Allegra JR, Cody RP. Pediatr. Emerg. Care 1998; 14(2): 112-115.

Affiliation

Department of Pediatrics, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1998, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

9583391

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To describe the epidemiology of pediatric visits to the emergency departments (EDs) of 10 general hospitals by age and gender. DESIGN: Review of ICD-9 codes from the billing database of a practice of emergency physicians. SETTING: Ten hospitals in north/central New Jersey. PATIENTS: All children <18 years treated by group physicians in EDs of study hospitals. INTERVENTIONS: None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Diagnoses and visits. RESULTS: There were 319,430 diagnoses recorded for 241,839 children (18.9% of the 1,277,233 total visits by all ages). The number of visits was highest in the <2 and >14 years age groups, with males predominating in all age groups. The number of visits from trauma increased with age. Otitis accounted for over 3% of all ED visits in this sample, over 7000 visits. CONCLUSIONS: Children account for a significant portion of ED visits in general hospitals. EDs need to be equipped and staffed to handle this clientele.

Language: en