TY  - JOUR
PY  - 1999//
TI  - Disturbing trends: the epidemiology of pediatric emergency medical services use
JO  - Academic emergency medicine
A1  - Sapien, R. E.
A1  - Fullerton, L.
A1  - Olson, Lynn M.
A1  - Broxterman, K. J.
A1  - Sklar, David P.
SP  - 232
EP  - 238
VL  - 6
IS  - 3
N2  - OBJECTIVE: To compare pediatric ambulance patients transported for chief complaints of suicide, assault, alcohol, and drug intoxication (SAAD) with pediatric patients transported for all other chief complaints. METHODS: An out-of-hospital database for the primary transporting service in an urban area was analyzed for patients 0-20 years of age from 1992 to 1995. Chief complaints by age, gender, and billing status were analyzed. RESULTS: There were 17,722 transports. The SAAD group comprised 14.9% of all transports (suicide attempt 1.6%, assault 5.9%, alcohol intoxication 3.2%, and drug abuse 4.2%). The proportion of transports due to SAAD increased with age: 0-11-year-olds (4.2%); 11-16-year-olds (17.5%); and 17-20-year-olds (20.3%) (p = 0.0001). Genders were equally represented in the overall group, while males comprised 52.6% of the SAAD transports (p = 0.032). In the SAAD group, the majority of transports for assaults (55.9%) and alcohol (58.8%) involved males, while females were the majority in transports for suicide (52.3%) and drug abuse (66%) (p = 0.0001). Reimbursement sources differed, with those in the SAAD group less likely to be reimbursed by private or public (Medicaid, government) insurance (p < 0.0001) compared with the overall group. CONCLUSIONS: A substantial proportion of pediatric emergency medical services transports are for high-risk conditions. This patient population differs from the overall group by age distribution and reimbursement source.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1069-6563
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ID  - ref1
ER  -