TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2024//
TI  - Pediatric injury trends in Rhode Island during the COVID-19 pandemic
JO  - Rhode Island medical journal (2013)
A1  - Savarino, Jeffrey R.
A1  - Hanson, Holly R.
A1  - Pomerantz, Wendy J.
A1  - Zonfrillo, Mark R.
A1  - Formica, Margaret K.
A1  - Ruest, Stephanie M.
SP  - 23
EP  - 28
VL  - 107
IS  - 4
N2  - BACKGROUND: Pediatric Emergency Department (PED) visits nationally decreased while the proportion of injury-related PED visits increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Little is known about the trends in Rhode Island (RI). <br><br>METHODS: This is a planned sub-analysis of RI data from a retrospective study of pediatric injury-related visits to 40 PEDs for children <18 years old from January 2019-December 2020. We calculated frequencies and compared patient demographics, injury types, severity, and mechanisms for 3/17/2019-12/31/2019 (pre-COVID-19) versus 3/15/2020-12/31/2020 (study period). <br><br>RESULTS: Despite a 31.4% decrease in total injury-related PED visits from 2019 to 2020, the proportion of injury-related PED visits increased by 8.1% (p<0.001) in 2020. The mean age of patients decreased from 8.3 (SD 5.4) to 7.7 (SD 5.4) years old (p<0.0001), with a higher proportion of female (p=0.0018), privately insured (p=0.0274), and non-Hispanic White children (p<0.001) in 2020. There was a higher proportion of trauma activations, admissions, and injuries caused by intentional self-harm (all p<0.0001). <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: In RI, the total number of injury-related PED visits decreased while the proportion of injury-related PED visits increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, similar to national trends. There were significant demographic, mechanism, and intent shifts among injured patients, highlighting epidemiologic changes during the pandemic and identifying high-risk groups that would benefit from targeted education and interventions.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 2327-2228
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ID  - ref1
ER  -