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Medical problems presenting to paediatric emergency departments: 10 years on

Rebecca Sands1, Dhurgshaarna Shanmugavadivel, Terence Stephenson

  • 1Nottingham Children’s Hospital, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Queen’s Medical Centre Campus, Nottingham, UK.

Emergency Medicine Journal : EMJ
|May 26, 2011
PubMed

Insights

Pediatric emergency department visits increased by 42% over ten years, with the top 10 conditions remaining similar, though breathing difficulties decreased. This highlights rising ED use for common childhood illnesses.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Emergency Medicine
  • Public Health
  • Healthcare Utilization

Background:

  • Paediatric emergency departments (EDs) manage a high volume of children with acute medical conditions.
  • Understanding trends in paediatric ED presentations is crucial for resource allocation and service planning.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare the common medical presenting problems of children attending a UK paediatric ED in 2007-2008 with data from ten years prior.
  • To identify changes in the patterns of paediatric ED attendances over a decade.

Main Methods:

  • Retrospective review of electronic patient records from a UK university hospital ED.
  • Comparison of a 2007-2008 cohort (n=39,394) with a historical cohort from 1997.
  • Analysis of presenting problems, demographic data, and referral sources.

Main Results:

  • Medical attendances increased by 42% over ten years (10,369 in 1997 to 14,724 in 2007-2008).
  • The top 10 presenting problems accounted for 85% of medical attendances.
  • Breathing difficulty, febrile illness, and diarrhoea with or without vomiting were the most common issues.
  • A decrease in the proportion of patients presenting with breathing difficulty was observed (-10.9%, p<0.001).

Conclusions:

  • There has been a significant rise in paediatric ED attendances for medical conditions over a decade.
  • The consistent prevalence of the top 10 presenting problems suggests a need to investigate reasons for increased ED utilization.
  • Findings should inform research on care-seeking behaviors and guide the commissioning of paediatric emergency and urgent care services.
Abstract

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