Education about crying in normal infants is associated with a reduction in pediatric emergency room visits for crying complaints.
OBJECTIVE
The primary aim of this study was to determine whether there was any change in visits of 0- to 5-month old infants to the medical emergency room (MER) of a metropolitan pediatric hospital after province-wide implementation of a public health prevention program that teaches new parents about the properties of early crying in normal infants.


METHODS
Free-text descriptions of Presenting Complaint and Final Diagnosis on electronic MER clinic visit files were used to classify infants as cases of infant crying not due to disease. Annual crying case visits as a percent of MER visits were analyzed pre- and post-introduction of the prevention program.


RESULTS
Before the program, crying case visits represented 724 of 20,394 MER visits (3.5%). The age-specific pattern of MER visits for crying peaked at 6 weeks and was similar to the previously reported age-specific pattern of amounts of crying in the community. After program implementation, crying cases were reduced by 29.5% (p < .001). The most significant reductions were for crying visits in the first to third months of life.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings imply that improved parental knowledge of the characteristics of normal crying secondary to a public health program may reduce MER use for crying complaints in the early months of life.
*Department of Pediatrics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada; †Child and Brain Development, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto, ON, Canada; ‡Developmental Neurosciences and Child Health, Child and Family Research Institute, BC Children's Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada; §Department of Statistics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Ronald G
RG
Barr
Fahra
F
Rajabali
Melissa
M
Aragon
Marg
M
Colbourne
Rollin
R
Brant
D001955:British Columbia; D003448:Crying; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D018730:Infant Behavior; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000193:education*