227386 Epidemiology of Pediatric Sports and Recreation-Related Heat Injuries in School-Aged Children, Adolescents and Teens

Monday, November 8, 2010 : 8:50 AM - 9:10 AM

Jingzhen Yang, PhD, MPH , Community and Behavioral Health, College of Public Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
Sara B. Newman, DrPH, MCP , Risk Management Division, National Park Service, Washington, DC
Holly Shipp, MPH , Emergency Medical Services, County of San Diego, San Diego, CA
Mary Beth Moran, PT, MS, MEd , Center for Healthier Communities, Rady Children's Hospital, San Diego, CA
Andrew E. Lincoln, ScD, MS , Union Memorial Hospital, Sports Medicine Research Center, Baltimore, MD
Karin A. Mack, PhD , Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention, CDC's Injury Center, Atlanta, GA
Carla L. Britton, MS , Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics, Iowa City, IA
Joyce Pressley, PhD, MPH , Departments of Epidemiology and Health Policy and Management, Columbia University, New York, NY
  
Objectives: To describe demographics, hospital characteristics, and costs associated with emergency department (ED) visits for pediatric sports-related heat injuries.

Methods: The 2006 Nationwide Emergency Department Sample was used to identify non-fatal heat injuries (ICD-9-CM codes 992, E900.0 and E900.9) in patients aged 5-17 years. Heat injuries in places of recreation and sport (E849.4) were classified as sports-related, and compared to non-sports-related injuries. National estimates of heat injuries were calculated using SAS callable SUDAAN version 9.0, accounting for cluster sampling and sample weights.

Results: An estimated 10,028 ED visits were due to heat injuries nationwide. Boys, older youth, and youth living in large metropolitan areas had higher proportions of ED admissions for heat injuries. ED visits for heat injuries were higher from July to September (69.4%), during weekdays (71.9%), in hospitals located in metropolitan areas (73.6%), and in hospitals without a trauma center (74.5%). Most patients (93.5 %) were released after ED treatment, with average charges of $1,357 per visit. Eleven percent of heat injuries (n=1,112) were sports-related with heat exhaustion being the most common principal diagnosis. Over two-thirds of ED visits for sports-related heat injuries were at hospitals located in the South or West. ED admissions from July to September were higher for sports- than non-sports-related heat injuries (p=.0016).

Conclusions: Further studies are warranted to better identify groups that are at greater risk for sports-related heat injuries. Guidelines on heat injury prevention are needed to ensure safer sports and recreation for school aged children, adolescents and teens.

Learning Objectives:
1) Identify the demographics, hospital characteristics, and costs associated with emergency department (ED) visits for pediatric heat injuries; and 2) Discuss the difference between pediatric sports-related and non-sport-related heat injuries.

Keywords: Injury, Children and Adolescents

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am qualified to be an abstract Author on the content I am responsible for because I oversee programs such as injury prevention
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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