[Emergency Department (ED) administrative data--what can we learn from this data about pediatric injury? Is there a need for a designated injury surveillance system?].
BACKGROUND
Data on injury characteristics can help direct prevention activities.


OBJECTIVE
To explore the potential use of Emergency Department (ED) data as a source of information regarding child injury in Israel. To examine the need for a designated injury surveillance system in Israel.


METHODS
Data on ED visits by children (0-17 years] between the years 2005-2007, for reasons other than illness were extracted from the administrative data system of a pediatric hospital in Israel. Data was analyzed using SPSS.


RESULTS
The study included 36,603 children, 62% males. Mean age was 7 (s.d. 5) years. Hospitalization was the outcome for 2333 children (6.5%). The reason for the visit was "other accident" for half of the patients: 15,652 kids (43%) due to falls and 2111 children (6%) were involved in road crashes. Patient complaints included 636 children (2%) that had swallowed an object, 113 of them (18%) were hospitalized. Bruises were the most frequent complaint. Half of the children complained of bruises, 10,277 were bruised as a result of a fall, 1,473 (7.5% of bruised population) were bruised as a result of a road accident. Cuts were the second most frequent complaint (8,773 children, 24%) with only 2% hospitalized. One half of the patients with cuts were aged 0-4 years. Only 231 kids had suffered poisoning, of them, 193 children (84%) infants and toddlers below the age of 4 years and 16% were hospitalized.


CONCLUSIONS
Findings suggest that administrative data can be used to observe pediatric injury patterns. Several new data fields in the existing system could fill information gaps on the external cause of injury. Making this data available to injury prevention professionals should be considered a priority.
Aharonson-Daniel
Limor
L
Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Department of Health Sciences, Israel. limorad@bgu.ac.il
Hemmo-Lotem
Michal
M
Endy-Findling
Liri
L
Mike-Doron
Ruthie
R
Waisman
Yechezkel Hezil
YH
D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003288:Contusions / Q000453:epidemiology; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000453:epidemiology; D050723:Fractures, Bone / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D010507:Periodicity; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*