YNHHS News Releases

Released November 6, 1999

Contacts:
Bridgeport Hospital (203) 384-3637
Greenwich Hospital (203) 863-3126
Yale-New Haven Hospital (203) 688-2493

Pediatric Injury Statistics

• 1 of every 4 children ages 14 and under sustain injuries serious enough to require medical attention each year, that's 39,000 children per day, 14 million annually.
• 34 percent of all Emergency Department visits involve children and adolescents. On average, a child or adolescent visits an ED every second. Of all child and adolescent visits, 43 percent were injury related.
• The amount paid for all ED visits is approximately $25.5 billion per year.
• Leading injury mechanisms in pediatric cases were: falls (23%), being struck by/against an object (14%), cutting and piercing (8%), unspecified motor vehicle traffic (5%) and bites/stings (4%).
• 44 percent of child and adolescent injuries occurred in the home.

In 1998:

• Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital had 20,000 emergency department visits.
• Bridgeport Hospital had 18,000 pediatric emergency visits.
• Greenwich Hospital had 4,000 pediatric emergency visits.

Sources: 1997 Child and Adolescent Emergency Department Visit Book, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Health Resources & Services Administration, Detailed findings from 1992-94; Hospital admission offices.