Violent Injury as a Predictor of Subsequent Assault-Related Emergency Department Visits Among Adolescents.

PURPOSE

To measure the risk of a subsequent assault-related emergency department (ED) visit in assault injured adolescents as compared to those who initially presented for non-assault related injuries.

METHODS

This was a historical cohort study of youth (ages 10-18 years) seen at two pediatric EDs between 2016 and 2019. Participants were included if their visit had an International Classification of Diseases-10 code for assaultive injury or accidental injury (motor vehicle collisions (MVC) and sports injuries). We calculated the rate of a subsequent ED visit for an assault-related injury, and then used survival analysis to compare time to subsequent ED visit with an assault-related injury between study and comparison groups.

RESULTS

A total of 6125 adolescents met inclusion criteria (Assault: n = 2782, 45.4%; MVC: n = 1834, 29.9%; Sports n = 1509, 24.6%). The overall rate per 100 person years of a subsequent assault-related ED visit was 5.6 (n = 344). Patients who initially presented with an assault-related injury had an increased adjusted relative risk (aRR) of return for a subsequent ED visit for an assault-related injury when compared to MVC patients (aRR 17.6 [95% CI: 9.6, 32.2]). Kaplan-Meier time to event analysis found that patients in the assault injury group have a higher probability of a subsequent ED visit for an assault-related injury compared to patients in the MVC injury group (adjusted hazard ratio (aHR): 17.7 [95% CI: 9.67, 32.42]).

DISCUSSION

Adolescents injured by assault are more likely to return to the ED for a subsequent assault-related injury compared to adolescents who initially present with non-assault-related injuries.