title: The epidemiology of pediatric visits to New Jersey general emergency departments.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the epidemiology of pediatric visits to the emergency departments (EDs) of 10 general hospitals by age and gender.
  
  
  METHODS
  Review of ICD-9 codes from the billing database of a practice of emergency physicians.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ten hospitals in north/central New Jersey.
  
  
  METHODS
  All children <18 years treated by group physicians in EDs of study hospitals.
  
  
  METHODS
  None.
  
  
  METHODS
  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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA.
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Zimmerman
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Allegra
authors.forename: R P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Cody
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004635:Emergency Medicine; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009515:New Jersey; D010033:Otitis Media / Q000453:epidemiology; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014481:United States; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology