The epidemiology of pediatric visits to New Jersey general emergency departments

Abstract

To describe the epidemiology of pediatric visits to the emergency departments (EDs) of 10 general hospitals by age and gender. Review of ICD-9 codes from the billing database of a practice of emergency physicians. Ten hospitals in north/central New Jersey. All children None. Diagnoses and visits. There were 319,430 diagnoses recorded for 241,839 children (18.9% of the 1,277,233 total visits by all ages). The number of visits was highest in the 14 years age groups, with males predominating in all age groups. The number of visits from trauma increased with age. Otitis accounted for over 3% of all ED visits in this sample, over 7000 visits. Children account for a significant portion of ED visits in general hospitals. EDs need to be equipped and staffed to handle this clientele.