title: Homeless in America: injuries treated in US emergency departments, 2007-2011.
abstract: Despite being a high-risk population, epidemiological research about injuries among homeless individuals is limited. We sought to describe injury characteristics among individuals identified as homeless in the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS), and to compare them to age- and sex-matched controls. We searched text narratives for all patients with product-related injuries who presented to NEISS emergency departments from 2007 to 2011 to identify homeless cases (N = 268). A random sample of 2680 age- and sex-matched controls was identified for the same time period. The incident location differed between groups, and the mention of substance use was significantly more common among homeless cases than controls. The body part injured differed significantly between cases and controls for all age groups, with the exception of older adults. Among homeless cases, injuries occurred most frequently to the lower extremities, and sprains/strains, contusions/abrasions and burns were most common. Additional research on injury among homeless individuals is warranted in order to identify meaningful preventive strategies for this at-risk population.
authors.affiliation: a Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center , University of Washington , Seattle , Washington , USA.
authors.forename: Jessica L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Mackelprang
authors.forename: Janessa M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Graves
authors.forename: Frederick P
authors.initials: FP
authors.lastname: Rivara
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006703:Ill-Housed Persons / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: emergency department; homelessness; injury