ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Data on injury characteristics can help direct prevention activities. AIMS: To explore the potential use of Emergency Department (ED) data as a source of information regarding child injury in Israel. To examine the need for a designated injury surveillance system in Israel. METHODS: Data on ED visits by children (0-17 years] between the years 2005-2007, for reasons other than illness were extracted from the administrative data system of a pediatric hospital in Israel. Data was analyzed using SPSS. RESULTS: The study included 36,603 children, 62% males. Mean age was 7 (s.d. 5) years. Hospitalization was the outcome for 2333 children (6.5%). The reason for the visit was "other accident" for half of the patients: 15,652 kids (43%) due to falls and 2111 children (6%) were involved in road crashes. Patient complaints included 636 children (2%) that had swallowed an object, 113 of them (18%) were hospitalized. Bruises were the most frequent complaint. Half of the children complained of bruises, 10,277 were bruised as a result of a fall, 1,473 (7.5% of bruised population) were bruised as a result of a road accident. Cuts were the second most frequent complaint (8,773 children, 24%) with only 2% hospitalized. One half of the patients with cuts were aged 0-4 years. Only 231 kids had suffered poisoning, of them, 193 children (84%) infants and toddlers below the age of 4 years and 16% were hospitalized. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that administrative data can be used to observe pediatric injury patterns. Several new data fields in the existing system could fill information gaps on the external cause of injury. Making this data available to injury prevention professionals should be considered a priority.
