title: The Relationship Between Traumatic Injury in Children and Long-Term Use of Health and Social Services by Children and Their Families.
abstract: To increase understanding of relationships between general traumatic injury in children and long-term use of resources in the health care and social services (HSS) sectors by these children and their families 8-10 years after traumatic injury. This study was a cross-sectional retrospective cohort study of prognosis from 2001 to 2003 that quantified recent expenditures on and use of HSS by children and also by their parents. Forty-eight cases of children were selected from the Hamilton Health Sciences pediatric trauma database in the period from January 2001 to December 2003 after incurring a traumatic injury with Injury Severity Score greater than 12. The average total cost to the HSS system per child's family was $4,326.62 during the preceding 6 months. During the same period, average use of HSS was 7 visits. Total service costs incurred by caregivers of injured children increased with severity of the traumatic injury (p= .009). Caregiver HSS use was higher when the injury was caused by a motor vehicle accident than by other types of accidents (p< .001) and increased with the injury severity (p< .001). HSS use by children was related to gender (p< .001), injury mechanism (p< .001), age at accident (p< .001), and time since accident (p= .012), among other factors. Pediatric trauma appears to have long-term effects on expenditures on and use of HSS by the affected children and their families. The findings emphasize the need for long-term assessment and possible delivery of services to the families of the injured children.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, McMaster University, HSC 2J20, 1280 Main St. W, Hamilton, ON L8S 4K1, Canada.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Garnett
authors.forename: Gina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Browne
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002170:Canada; D002648:Child; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs; D005102:Health Expenditures; D006295:Health Resources / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006300:Health Services Misuse / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D016015:Logistic Models; D008134:Long-Term Care / Q000191:economics; D008297:Male; D020380:Needs Assessment; D016012:Poisson Distribution; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012947:Social Work / Q000191:economics*; D013997:Time Factors; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000191:economics / Q000628:therapy*