Paediatric trauma in the USA: patterns of emergency department visits and associated hospital resource use.

Trauma is the leading cause of mortality and morbidity among children in the USA. To examine the variation in the epidemiology and patterns of visits to emergency departments (EDs), and test the hypothesis that children evaluated at trauma centre EDs will have higher injury severity and a higher likelihood of hospitalisation versus those evaluated at non-trauma centre EDs, we analysed a national database of all injured children aged 0-20 years evaluated at US EDs in 2009. Childhood injuries are a frequent cause of visits to US EDs, with a national point prevalence of 620 cases per 10,000 children aged 0-20 years. Epidemiology of childhood injuries in the USA is significant for male gender preponderance, significant seasonal and geographical variation, and disproportionately more frequent injury to the extremities than other sites of the body. National hospital resource use was significant, with greater burden borne by trauma centres which disproportionately provided care to the most severely injured children.