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Tsze DS, Kuppermann N, Casper TC, Barney BJ, Richer LP, Liberman DB, Okada PJ, Morris CR, Myers SR, Soung JK, Mistry RD, Babcock L, Spencer SP, Johnson MD, Klein EJ, Quayle KS, Steele DW, Cruz AT, Rogers AJ, Thomas DG, Grupp-Phelan JM, Johnson TJ, Dayan PS. Stratification of risk for emergent intracranial abnormalities in children with headaches: a Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN) study protocol. BMJ Open 2023; 13:e079040. [PMID: 37993148 PMCID: PMC10668138 DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-079040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2023] [Accepted: 10/16/2023] [Indexed: 11/24/2023] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Headache is a common chief complaint of children presenting to emergency departments (EDs). Approximately 0.5%-1% will have emergent intracranial abnormalities (EIAs) such as brain tumours or strokes. However, more than one-third undergo emergent neuroimaging in the ED, resulting in a large number of children unnecessarily exposed to radiation. The overuse of neuroimaging in children with headaches in the ED is driven by clinician concern for life-threatening EIAs and lack of clarity regarding which clinical characteristics accurately identify children with EIAs. The study objective is to derive and internally validate a stratification model that accurately identifies the risk of EIA in children with headaches based on clinically sensible and reliable variables. METHODS AND ANALYSIS Prospective cohort study of 28 000 children with headaches presenting to any of 18 EDs in the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN). We include children aged 2-17 years with a chief complaint of headache. We exclude children with a clear non-intracranial alternative diagnosis, fever, neuroimaging within previous year, neurological or developmental condition such that patient history or physical examination may be unreliable, Glasgow Coma Scale score<14, intoxication, known pregnancy, history of intracranial surgery, known structural abnormality of the brain, pre-existing condition predisposing to an intracranial abnormality or intracranial hypertension, head injury within 14 days or not speaking English or Spanish. Clinicians complete a standardised history and physical examination of all eligible patients. Primary outcome is the presence of an EIA as determined by neuroimaging or clinical follow-up. We will use binary recursive partitioning and multiple regression analyses to create and internally validate the risk stratification model. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION Ethics approval was obtained for all participating sites from the University of Utah single Institutional Review Board. A waiver of informed consent was granted for collection of ED data. Verbal consent is obtained for follow-up contact. Results will be disseminated through international conferences, peer-reviewed publications, and open-access materials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel S Tsze
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York, USA
| | - Nathan Kuppermann
- Departments of Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics, University of California Davis School of Medicine, University of California Davis Health, Sacramento, California, USA
| | - T Charles Casper
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Critical Care, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
| | - Bradley J Barney
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Critical Care, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
| | - Lawrence P Richer
- Women and Children's Health Research Institute, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Neurology, University of Alberta Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | - Danica B Liberman
- Departments of Pediatrics and Population and Public Health Sciences, Division of Emergency and Transport Medicine, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - Pamela J Okada
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA
| | - Claudia R Morris
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Sage R Myers
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Jane K Soung
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Rakesh D Mistry
- Department of Pediatrics, Section of Emergency Medicine, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado, USA
| | - Lynn Babcock
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Emergency Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
| | - Sandra P Spencer
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Emergency Medicine, Ohio State University College of Medicine, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, USA
| | - Michael D Johnson
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, The University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
| | - Eileen J Klein
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Emergency Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle Children's Hospital, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Kimberly S Quayle
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine in Saint Louis, St Louis, Missouri, USA
| | - Dale W Steele
- Departments of Emergency Medicine, Pediatrics and Health Services, Policy & Practice, Warren Alpert Medical School and School of Public Health of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA
| | - Andrea T Cruz
- Department of Pediatrics, Divisions of Emergency Medicine & Infectious Diseases, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA
| | - Alexander J Rogers
- Departments of Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics, University of Michigan, Michigan Medicine, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
| | - Danny G Thomas
- Department of Pediatrics, Section of Emergency Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
| | | | - Tiffani J Johnson
- Departments of Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics, University of California Davis School of Medicine, University of California Davis Health, Sacramento, California, USA
| | - Peter S Dayan
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York, USA
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Murtagh Kurowski E, Byczkowski T, Grupp-Phelan JM. Comparison of emergency care delivered to children and young adults with complex chronic conditions between pediatric and general emergency departments. Acad Emerg Med 2014; 21:778-84. [PMID: 25039935 DOI: 10.1111/acem.12412] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2013] [Revised: 12/17/2013] [Accepted: 01/23/2014] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Increasing attention is being paid to medically complex children and young adults, such as those with complex chronic conditions, because they are high consumers of inpatient hospital days and resources. However, little is known about where these children and young adults with complex chronic conditions seek emergency care and if the type of emergency department (ED) influences the likelihood of admission. The authors sought to generate nationwide estimates for ED use by children and young adults with complex chronic conditions and to evaluate if being of the age for transition to adult care significantly affects the site of care and likelihood of hospital admission. METHODS This was a cross-sectional study using discharge data from the 2008 Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS), Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to evaluate visits to either pediatric or general EDs by pediatric-aged patients (17 years old or younger) and transition-aged patients (18 to 24 years old) with at least one complex chronic condition. The main outcome measures were hospital admission, ED charges for treat-and-release visits, and total charges for admitted patients. RESULTS In 2008, 69% of visits by pediatric-aged and 92% of visits by transition-aged patients with multiple complex chronic conditions occurred in general EDs. Not surprisingly, pediatric age was the strongest predictor of seeking care in a pediatric ED (odds ratio [OR] = 15.86; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 12.3 to 20.5). Technology dependence (OR = 1.56; 95% CI =1.2 to 2.0) and presence of multiple complex chronic conditions (OR = 1.39; 95% CI = 1.2 to 1.6) were also associated with higher odds of seeking care in a pediatric ED. When controlling for patient and hospital characteristics, type of ED was not a significant predictor of admission (p = 0.87) or total charges (p = 0.26) in either age group. CONCLUSIONS Overall, this study shows that, despite their complexity, the vast majority of children and young adults with multiple complex chronic conditions are cared for in general EDs. When controlling for patient and hospital characteristics, the admission rate and total charges for hospitalized patients did not differ between pediatric and general EDs. This result highlights the need for increased attention to the care that these medically complex children and young adults receive outside of pediatric-specialty centers. These results also emphasize that any future performance metrics developed to evaluate the quality of emergency care for children and young adults with complex chronic conditions must be applicable to both pediatric and general ED settings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eileen Murtagh Kurowski
- The Division of Emergency Medicine; Department of Pediatrics; Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center; University of Cincinnati; Cincinnati OH
| | - Terri Byczkowski
- The Division of Emergency Medicine; Department of Pediatrics; Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center; University of Cincinnati; Cincinnati OH
| | - Jacqueline M. Grupp-Phelan
- The Division of Emergency Medicine; Department of Pediatrics; Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center; University of Cincinnati; Cincinnati OH
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Rinderknecht AS, Ho M, Matykiewicz P, Grupp-Phelan JM. Referral to the emergency department by a primary care provider predicts severity of illness. Pediatrics 2010; 126:917-24. [PMID: 20956418 DOI: 10.1542/peds.2010-0364] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to assess whether referral to a pediatric emergency department (PED) by a primary care provider was associated with greater severity of illness, as determined on the basis of clinical measures and increased resource utilization. METHODS A retrospective study of data for 121 088 children who presented to a PED with abdominal pain, fever, or respiratory complaints during a 5-year period was performed. Demographic data, referral status, and proxy markers of illness severity were collected from the medical records and analyzed. RESULTS A total of 26.3% of all patients seen in the PED presented with these 3 complaint categories. With adjustment for age, gender, race, and insurance class, referred patients were significantly more likely to have high triage acuity designations, higher rates of very abnormal vital signs, and higher admission rates, compared with patients who were self-referred. Referred patients were more likely to undergo testing (laboratory or radiologic), to receive intravenous fluid therapy and pain medications, and to be assigned higher-severity discharge diagnoses, such as appendicitis, septic shock, or status asthmaticus. CONCLUSIONS Referral by a primary care provider to a PED was significantly and independently associated with greater severity of illness and resource utilization. Referral status should be considered in algorithms used to triage cases for evaluation in the PED.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea S Rinderknecht
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Division of Emergency Medicine, 3333 Burnet Ave, ML 2008, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA.
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