Pediatric emergency department visits due to child abuse and neglect following COVID-19 public health emergency declaration in the Southeastern United States.
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ABSTRACT: Background
The ongoing worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has heightened several risk factors for child abuse and neglect (CAN). We study whether COVID-19 and the public health response to it affected CAN-related pediatric emergency department (ED) visits in the southeastern United States (US).Methods
We performed a retrospective chart review on medical records of ED visits from a level I pediatric hospital system serving one of the largest metropolitan areas in the southeastern US from January through June 2018-2020. We used multivariate Poisson regression and linear regression to compare professionally identified CAN-related ED visits before and after a COVID-19 public health emergency declaration in 2020, relative to trends over the same period in 2018 and 2019.Results
Although the number of both overall pediatric ED visits and CAN-related ED visits declined, the number of CAN-related ED visits due to neglect from inadequate adult supervision increased by 62 % (p < 0.01). The number of CAN visits per 1,000 pediatric ED visits also increased by 97 % (p < 0.01). Finally, the proportion of CAN-related ED visits due to neglect from inadequate supervision increased by 100 % (p < 0.01).Conclusions
Physicians should be aware that patients who present with injuries during a pandemic may be victims of neglect due to changes in social structures in their households. In particular, maltreatment presenting to the ED shifted toward treating injuries and abuse resulting from inadequate supervision. Policymakers should consider the impacts of stay-at-home orders on child well-being when determining appropriate public health responses in the midst of a pandemic.Trial registration
Not applicable.
SUBMITTER: Bullinger LR
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8435405 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:ImportancePoverty has long been associated with a higher risk for child maltreatment, and recent research suggests that income support policies are associated with reduced child abuse and neglect. However, income supports tied to employment cannot separate the associations of income from those of employment.ObjectiveTo estimate the short-term association of universal and unconditional income payments to parents with child abuse and neglect.Design, setting, and participantsIn this cross-sectional study, variation in the timing of the 2021 expanded child tax credit (CTC) advance payments was used to determine whether receiving unconditional income is associated with child abuse and neglect. A fixed-effects approach was used to compare child abuse and neglect before and after payments were made in 2021. The study compared 2021 trends with the same period in 2018 and 2019, during which no CTC payments were made. Participants were pediatric emergency department (ED) patients identified as experiencing child abuse or neglect at a level I pediatric hospital system in the Southeastern US from July through December 2021. Data were analyzed from July to August 2022.ExposuresTiming in the disbursement of the expanded CTC advance payments.Main outcomes and measuresDaily child abuse and neglect-related ED visits.ResultsDuring the study period, there were 3169 ED visits related to child abuse or neglect. The 2021 advance payments of the expanded CTC were associated with fewer child abuse and neglect-related ED visits. There was a decrease in these ED visits in the 4 days following the advance CTC payments, although the reduction was not significant (point estimate, -0.22; 95% CI, -0.45 to 0.01; P = .06). There were significant reductions in such ED visits among male children (point estimate, -0.40; 95% CI, -0.75 to -0.06; P = .02) and non-Hispanic White children (point estimate, -0.69; 95% CI, -1.22 to -0.17; P = .01). These reductions did not persist, however.Conclusions and relevanceThese findings suggest that federal income supports to parents are associated with immediate reductions in child abuse and neglect-related ED visits. These results are important for discussions of making the temporary expansion of the CTC permanent and are applicable to income support policies more broadly.
| S-EPMC9936349 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The objective of this study is to develop and validate a screening instrument for the recognition of child maltreatment in the emergency department (ED). Existing data on screening questions and outcomes (diagnosis of child maltreatment) from three large observational screening studies at eight different EDs in the Netherlands were harmonized. A multivariate logistic regression was performed to develop the Screening instrument for Child Abuse and Neglect (SCAN). The SCAN was validated by performing a cross-validation and calculating the discriminative ability. A total of 24,963 patients were included. Out of the potential screening questions the following questions were included in the final instrument: is the injury compatible with the history, and does it correspond to the child's developmental level? (aOR 10.40, 95% CI 5.69-19.02), was there an unnecessary delay in seeking medical help? (aOR 3.45, 95% CI 1.73-6.88) and is the behaviour/interaction of the child and parents (carers) appropriate? (aOR 14.67, 95% CI 7.93-27.13). The SCAN had a pooled AUC of 0.75 (95% CI 0.63-0.87) in the cross-validation. The question "Are there other signals that make you doubt the safety of the child and/or family?" (available in only one of the original datasets, OR 182.9; 95% CI 102.3-327.4) was by consensus added to the final SCAN.ConclusionThis validated and brief Screening instrument for Child Abuse and Neglect (SCAN) is designed to improve early recognition of child maltreatment in the ED. A positive screening result of the SCAN warrants a thorough work-up for child maltreatment, including a top-toe examination, if necessary additional diagnostics and adequate safety measures.What is known• Screening instruments increase the detection of possible cases of child maltreatment in the emergency department and support health care professionals to identify these cases. • The application of different screening instruments led to the need for one brief validated instrument.What is new• This study presents a validated and brief Screening instrument for Child Abuse and Neglect (SCAN), consisting of four questions. • The SCAN supports professionals in detecting signals of child maltreatment, and a positive screening result should lead to a thorough work-up, including a top-toe examination, complete history, additional diagnostic tests and consultation of a child abuse expert.
| S-EPMC9534589 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectiveTo understand the prevalence of child maltreatment-related emergency department (ED) visits in the United States, we examined data from the 2007 to 2014 Nationwide Emergency Department Sample.MethodsBased on existing literature, International Classification of Disease, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9 CM) ED discharge codes for children less than 10 years of age were characterized as specified child maltreatment, defined as visits with an explicit maltreatment ICD-9 CM or external causes of injury codes. The prevalence of child maltreatment visits per 100,000 children in the United States (based on Center for Disease Control Wide-ranging ONline Data for Epidemiologic Research estimates) overall and by sociodemographic factors was examined, and tests for trends over time were evaluated with Cochran-Armitage tests. Analyses were conducted in 2019.ResultsThe prevalence of child maltreatment based in ICD-9 CM discharge codes ED visits dropped from 69.2 visits per 100,000 in 2007 to 65.9 visits per 100,000 in 2014; this trend was statistically significant. The prevalence was lowest in 2010 (60.1 visits per 100,000 children). There were increases observed for some demographic groups in this period. Throughout the 8-year period examined, the prevalence of child maltreatment visits was highest for physical abuse compared with other forms of maltreatment, higher for boys compared with girls; highest for children younger than 1 year, and higher for children living in neighborhoods with the lowest median income compared with children in higher-income neighborhoods.ConclusionsThe Nationwide Emergency Department Sample data set is a valuable surveillance tool for examining trends in child maltreatment. Future studies should explore what factors may explain variations in child maltreatment over time to best develop prevention strategies.
| S-EPMC9347219 | biostudies-literature
Project description:STUDY OBJECTIVE:In the initial period of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, there has been a substantial decrease in the number of patients seeking care in the emergency department. A first step in estimating the impact of these changes is to characterize the patients, visits, and diagnoses for whom care is being delayed or deferred. METHODS:We conducted an observational study, examining demographics, visit characteristics, and diagnoses for all ED patient visits to an urban level 1 trauma center before and after a state emergency declaration and comparing them with a similar period in 2019. We estimated percent change on the basis of the ratios of before and after periods with respect to 2019 and the decline per week using Poisson regression. Finally, we evaluated whether each factor modified the change in overall ED visits. RESULTS:After the state declaration, there was a 49.3% decline in ED visits overall, 35.2% (95% confidence interval -38.4 to -31.9) as compared with 2019. Disproportionate declines were seen in visits by pediatric and older patients, women, and Medicare recipients, as well as for presentations of syncope, cerebrovascular accidents, urolithiasis, and abdominal and back pain. Significant proportional increases were seen in ED visits for upper respiratory infections, shortness of breath, and chest pain. CONCLUSION:There have been significant changes in patterns of care seeking during the COVID-19 pandemic. Declines in ED visits, especially for certain demographic groups and disease processes, should prompt efforts to understand these phenomena, encourage appropriate care seeking, and monitor for the morbidity and mortality that may result from delayed or deferred care.
| S-EPMC7287464 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The objective was to determine whether an educational intervention for health care providers would result in improved documentation of cases of possible physical child abuse in children <36 months old treated in the emergency department (ED) setting.This study had a statewide group-randomized prospective trial design. Participating EDs were randomized to one of three intervention groups: no intervention, partial intervention, or full intervention. Medical records for children <36 months of age were abstracted before, during, and after the intervention periods for specific documentation elements. The main outcome measure was the change in documentation from baseline. Generalized estimating equations (GEEs) were used to test for intervention effect.A total of 1,575 charts from 14 hospitals EDs were abstracted. Hospital and demographic characteristics were similar across intervention groups. There were 922 (59%) injury visits and 653 (41%) noninjury visits. For each specific documentation element, a GEE model gave p-values of >0.2 in independent tests, indicating no evidence of significant change in documentation after the intervention. Even among the 26 charts in which the possibility of physical abuse was noted, documentation remained variable.The educational interventions studied did not improve ED documentation of cases of possible physical child abuse. The need for improved health care provider education in child abuse identification and documentation remains. Future innovative educational studies to improve recognition of abuse are warranted.
| S-EPMC4461201 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionLittle detailed sociodemographic information is available about how alcohol use and associated health care visits have changed during COVID-19. Therefore, we assessed how rates of emergency department (ED) visits due to alcohol have changed during COVID-19 by age and sex and for individuals living in urban and rural settings and low and high-income neighborhoods.MethodsOur cohort included 13,660,516 unique Ontario residents between the ages of 10-105. We compared rates and characteristics of ED visits due to alcohol, identified using ICD-10 codes, from March 11-August 31 2020 to the same period in the prior 3 years. We used negative binomial regressions to examine to examine changes is visits during COVID-19 after accounting for temporal and seasonal trends.ResultsDuring COVID-19, the average monthly rate of ED visits due to alcohol decreased by 17.2 % (95 % CI -22.7, -11.3) from 50.5-40.9 visits per 100,000 individuals. In contrast, the proportion of all-cause ED visits due to alcohol increased by 11.4 % (95 % CI 7.7, 15.3) from 15.0 visits to 16.3 visits per 1000 all cause ED visits. Changes in ED visits due to alcohol were similar for men in women. Decreases in visits were larger for younger adults compared to older adults and pre-COVID-19 disparities in rates of ED visits due to alcohol between urban and rural settings and low and high-income neighborhoods widened. ED visits related to harms from acute intoxication showed the largest declines during COVID-19, particularly in younger adults and urban and high-income neighborhoods.ConclusionED visits due to alcohol decreased during the first six months of COVID-19, but to a lesser extent than decreases in all-cause ED visits. Our data suggest a widening of geographic and income-based disparities in alcohol harms in Ontario during COVID-19 which may require immediate and long-term interventions to mitigate.
| S-EPMC9759020 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundUrolithiasis affects an estimated 5% of the population and the lifetime risk of passing a stone in the urinary tract is estimated to be 8-10%. Urinary calculus formation is highly variable and while certain risk factors such as age, gender, seasonality, anatomic abnormality, and metabolic diseases have been identified, not much is known regarding the association of environmental factors such as lunar phases on renal colic. We conducted a retrospective study to test the hypothesis that full moon phase is an environmental factor associated for increased emergency department (ED) visits for renal colic due to ureteral calculus.MethodsWe analyzed 559 renal colic diagnoses by the ED at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in a 24-month period and compared them with corresponding lunar phases as well as supermoon events. The lunar phases were defined as full moon ± two days, new moon ± two days, and the days in-between as normal days according to the lunar calendar. Supermoon event dates were obtained from NASA.Results90 cases (16.1%) were diagnosed during full moon phase, 89 cases (15.9%) were diagnosed during new moon phase, and 380 cases (68.0%) were diagnosed during normal days. The incidence of renal colic showed no statistically significant association with lunar phases or supermoon events.ConclusionIn this retrospective longitudinal study with adequate power, neither full moon phase nor supermoon event exhibited an association with increased renal colic diagnoses due to ureteral calculus by the ED at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
| S-EPMC4907477 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionOur goal was to describe the pattern and identify risk factors of early-return ED visits or inpatient admissions following an index mental health and substance abuse (MHSA)-related ED visit in the United States.MethodsWe performed a retrospective cohort study using Optum Labs Data Warehouse, a nationally representative database containing administrative claims data on privately insured and Medicare Advantage enrollees. Authors identified patients presenting to an ED with a primary diagnosis of MHSA between 2005 and 2013 who were discharged home. Study inclusion required continuous insurance enrollment for the 12 months preceding and the 31 days following the index ED visit. During the study period we included only the first ED visit for each patient.ResultsA total of 49,672 (14.2%) had a return visit to the ED or had a hospitalization within 30 days following discharge. Mean time to the next ED visit or inpatient admission was 11.7 days. An increased age (age 65+ vs. age <18 years; OR 1.65, 95% CI [1.57 to 1.74]), chronic medical comorbidities (Hwang comorbidity 5+ vs 0; OR 1.31, 95% CI [1.27 to 1.35]), prior ED and inpatient utilization (4+ visits vs 0 visits; OR 5.59, 95% CI [5.41 to 5.78]) were associated with return visits within 30 days following discharge.ConclusionIn an analysis of nearly 350,000 ED visits for MHSA, 14.2 % of patients returned to the ED or hospital within 30 days. This study identified a number of factors associated with return visits for acute care.
| S-EPMC5576625 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Background and objectivesIn 2011, there were approximately 131 million visits to an emergency department in the United States. Emergency department visits have increased over time, far outpacing growth of the general population. There is a paucity of data evaluating emergency department visits among kidney transplant recipients. We sought to evaluate the incidence and risk factors for emergency department visits after initial hospital discharge after transplantation in the United States.Design, setting, participants, & measurementsWe identified 10,533 kidney transplant recipients from California, New York, and Florida between 2009 and 2012 using the State Inpatient and Emergency Department Databases included in the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project. We used multivariable Poisson and Cox proportional hazard models to evaluate adjusted incidence rates and time to emergency department visits after transplantation.ResultsThere were 17,575 emergency department visits over 13,845 follow-up years (overall rate =126.9/100 patient-years; 95% confidence interval, 125.1 to 128.8). The cumulative incidences of emergency department visits at 1, 12, and 24 months were 12%, 40%, and 57%, respectively, with median time =19 months; 48% of emergency department visits led to hospital admission. Risk factors for higher emergency department rates included younger age, women, black and Hispanic race/ethnicity, public insurance, depression, diabetes, peripheral vascular disease, and emergency department use before transplant. There was wide variation in emergency department visits by individual transplant center (10th percentile =70.0/100 patient-years; median =124.6/100 patient-years; and 90th percentile =187.4/100 patient-years).ConclusionsThe majority of kidney transplant recipients will visit an emergency department in the first 2 years post-transplantation, with significant variation by patient characteristics and individual centers. As such, coordination of care through the emergency department is a critical component of post-transplant management, and specific acumen of transplant-related care is needed among emergency department providers. Additional research assessing best processes of care for post-transplant management and health care expenditures and outcomes associated with emergency department visits for transplant recipients are warranted.
| S-EPMC4822667 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Pneumonia hospitalization rates are frequently reported as a measure of pneumonia disease burden in the United States. However, a detailed understanding of pneumonia burden in all health care settings, including the emergency department (ED), is essential for measuring the full effect of this disease on the population and planning and evaluating interventions to reduce pneumonia-related morbidity. The aim of this study was to quantify pneumonia-attributable ED visits in the United States among children and adults during the 3-year period July 2006 through June 2009.Rates of pneumonia ED visits were calculated using the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS), the largest source of U.S. ED data. Pneumonia ED visits were identified using International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes within NEDS. A pneumonia ED visit was defined by a primary (first-listed) pneumonia discharge diagnosis or a secondary pneumonia diagnosis with an accompanying primary diagnosis of respiratory failure, shock, septicemia, a sign or symptom consistent with pneumonia, another acute respiratory infection, or an acute exacerbation of a chronic pulmonary disease. Population-based annual rates of pneumonia ED visits stratified by age group and geographic region from July 2006 through June 2009 were calculated. The percentages of pneumonia ED visits resulting in treat-and-release outpatient ED visits were also calculated within each age stratum.During the study period, 6,917,025 ED visits for pneumonia were identified, representing 2.2% of all U.S. ED visits. During the 3 study years, defined as July through June of 2006-2007, 2007-2008, and 2008-2009, pneumonia ED visit rates per 1,000 person-years were 7.4 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 7.0 to 7.8), 7.8 (95% CI = 7.3 to 8.2), and 7.6 (95% CI = 7.1 to 8.0), respectively. Annual rates were stable over the 3 years within each age group and geographic region. Overall, 39.3% of pneumonia ED visits, including 74.5% of pediatric and 28.1% of adult visits, were managed as treat-and-release outpatient visits.Pneumonia accounts for 2.2% of ED visits in the United States and results in approximately seven to eight ED visits per 1000 persons per year. A substantial proportion of pneumonia cases diagnosed in the ED are managed in treat-and-release ED outpatient visits, highlighting that enumeration of ED visit rates provides important complementary information to hospitalization rates for the assessment of pneumonia burden.
| S-EPMC3907184 | biostudies-other