Children Spend 304,000 Days a Year in Hospital Due to Motor Vehicle Accidents

In new research carried out by the Centre for Injury Research and Policy at Columbus Children's Hospital the impact of motor vehicle accidents on our lives is discussed.

According to the research, which has just been published in the September issue of Archives of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine motor vehicle accidents are the biggest non-intentional cause of death or injury.

Researchers found that when looking at patients admitted to hospitals under the age of 21 there were of 62,000 that were in care due to being involved in a motor vehicle accident. These 62,000 patients spent a combined total of 304,000 days being looked after in a hospital. The cost of treating these patients was found to be over 2 billion dollars. The study looked at figures over a period of one year.

The co-author of the study Lara McKenzie said, "When compared with other sources of injury, children involved in motor vehicle crashes generally sustain more extensive and severe injuries. As a result, children's lengths of stay in hospitals are longer and the accrued medical charges are higher." Beside co-authoring the study report Lara McKenzie was also the main researcher in the investigations carried out by the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Columbus Children's Hospital and she is also on the faculty of Ohio State University's College of Medicine.

According to the research the average time the motor vehicle accident victim stayed in the hospital was three days. Length of time in the hospital varied from as little as one day to as long as 160 days. Young people between the ages of 18 to 20 were found to have the longest stays under hospital care. It was also discovered from the research that the group that had the highest rate of hospitalization due to motor vehicle accidents were 18 to 20 year olds. The second highest age group to need hospital care due to car accidents were those between 15 and 17. Males accounted for the higher percentage of patients with 86 males per 100,000 being hospitalized after a motor vehicle accident compared to 59 females per 100,000.

In today's press release co-author Gary Smith said this about the findings, "Motor vehicle crash related injuries take a remarkably heavy toll nationally in terms of deaths, life-long disability and economic costs." "In our study, inpatient charges totaled more than an astounding $2 billion annually for children and adolescents along in 2003. And we know that this number is a conservative estimate of the true cost of these injuries, because it does not include physician fees, rehabilitation costs, loss of parents time from work, loss of future earnings for the injured child and other related costs."

The serious issue that arise from the high amount of motor vehicle accidents has resulted in a number of state introducing measure to lessen the problem. According to McKenzie, "The majority of US states have adopted driver's licensing programs, which introduce driving privileges gradually to beginning drivers. These programs have seen promising reductions in motor vehicle crash rates among high-risk teens. Our study demonstrates that special attention needs to be given to adolescents ages 15 to 20 years."

The information used to carry out this study was taken from 2003 figures stored in the Kids Inpatient Database otherwise called KID. Information from 3,438 hospitals and 36 states was used in the research.

Sources

Center for Injury Research and Policy press release

Columbus Children's Hospital Research