Past-year Intentional and Unintentional Injury Among Teens Treated in an Inner-city Emergency Department

Overview

Journal J Emerg Med

Publisher Elsevier

Specialty Emergency Medicine

Date 2010 Feb 13

PMID 20149570

Citations 6

Authors

Rebecca M Cunningham

Maureen A Walton

Stephanie Roahen Harrison

Stella M Resko

Rachel Stanley

Marc Zimmerman

C Raymond Bingham

Jean T Shope

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Unlabelled: An inner-city emergency department (ED) visit provides an opportunity for contact with high-risk adolescents to promote injury prevention.

Objectives: To identify the prevalence of injuries sustained over the past year by teens presenting to an inner-city ED, and to identify factors associated with recent injury to inform future ED-based injury prevention initiatives.

Methods: Over 1 year, 7 days a week, from 1:00-11:00 p.m., patients aged 14-18 years presenting to the ED participated in a survey regarding past-year risk behaviors and injuries.

Results: Of the entire group of teens presenting to the ED (n = 1128) who completed the survey (83.8% response rate), 46% were male, and 58% were African-American. Past-year injuries were reported by 768 (68.1%) of the teens; 475 (61.8%) of those reported an unintentional injury and 293 (38.1%) reported an intentional injury. One-third of all youth seeking care reported a past-year sports-related injury (34.5%) or an injury related to driving or riding in a car (12.3%), and 8.2% reported a gun-related injury. Logistic regression found that binge drinking (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 1.95) and illicit weapon carrying (AOR 2.31) predicted a past-year intentional injury. African-American youth (AOR 0.56) and those receiving public assistance (AOR 0.73) were less likely to report past-year unintentional injuries.

Conclusions: Adolescents seeking care in an inner-city ED, regardless of the reason for seeking care, report an elevated prevalence of recent injury, including violence. Future injury screening and prevention efforts should consider universal screening of all youth seeking ED care.

Citing Articles

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A comparison of pediatric ocular injuries based on intention in patients admitted with trauma.

Gise R, Truong T, Parsikia A, Mbekeani J BMC Ophthalmol. 2019; 19(1):37.

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Arrests Among High-Risk Youth Following Emergency Department Treatment for an Assault Injury.

Carter P, Dora-Laskey A, Goldstick J, Heinze J, Walton M, Zimmerman M Am J Prev Med. 2018; 55(6):812-821.

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Treating Youth Violence in Hospital and Emergency Department Settings.

Purtle J, Carter P, Cunningham R, Fein J Adolesc Med State Art Rev. 2018; 27(2):351-363.

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Brand preferences of underage drinkers who report alcohol-related fights and injuries.

Roberts S, Siegel M, DeJong W, Naimi T, Jernigan D Subst Use Misuse. 2015; 50(5):619-929.

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