Analysis of school injuries resulting in emergency department or hospital admission.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the epidemiology of school injuries resulting in emergency department (ED) visits, hospital admission, or death.


METHODS
Utah statewide school injuries from 1992 to 1996 were probabilistically linked to statewide ED records (1996 only), inpatient hospital records (1992-1996), and death certificate records (1992-1996).


RESULTS
There were 43,881 school injuries for the years 1992 through 1996. In 1996, 1,534 of 6,354 total school injuries (17.5%) resulted in ED evaluation. Between 1992 and 1996, 354 school injuries (0.8%) necessitated hospital admission. The overall rates of school injuries (per 1,000 students) of primary (kindergarten-grade 6) and secondary (grades 7-12) school students requiring ED evaluation were 3.29 and 3.28, respectively; for hospital admission, 0.165 and 0.139. Abbreviated Injury Scale-1990 (AIS-90) regions identified in ED patients were the upper extremity (39.2%), face (20.8%), and lower extremity (17.1%), while AIS regions among inpatients were lower extremity (29.1%), upper extremity (26.6%), and head (22.6%). There were a total of 1,123 hospital days, and total charges of $2.16 million. The ED charges totaled $545,000. Median length of hospital stay was 1 day, and median hospital charge was $3,080. There were four fatalities.


CONCLUSIONS
This study emphasizes the significance of school injuries and the need for interventions to prevent these injuries
Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Division of Critical Care Medicine, Primary Children's Medical Center, Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT 84113, USA. ed.junkins@hsc.utah.edu
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Lightfoot
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D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D008297:Male; D012042:Registries; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012572:School Health Services; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014589:Utah / Q000453:epidemiology; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000628:therapy*