Abstract
Background
The incidence of patients with lower extremity injuries presenting to emergency departments in the United States with respect to specific anatomic regions and disease categories is unknown. Such information might be used for injury prevention, resource allocation, and training priorities.
Questions/purposes
We determined the anatomic regions, disease categories, and circumstances that account for the highest incidence of leg problems among patients presenting to emergency departments in the United States.
Methods
We used the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) to obtain a probability sample of all lower extremity injuries treated at emergency departments during 2009. A total of 119,815 patients who presented to emergency departments with lower extremity injuries in 2009 were entered in the NEISS database. Patient and injury characteristics were analyzed. Incidence rates for various regions, disease categories, injuries, and age groups were calculated using US census data.
Results
We identified 112 unique combinations of disease categories and anatomic regions. Strains and sprains accounted for 36% of all lower extremity injuries. The injury with the greatest incidence was an ankle sprain (206 per 100,000; 95% confidence interval, 181–230). Younger patients were more likely to have ankle sprains, foot contusions/abrasions, and foot strains/sprains. Older patients were more likely to have lower trunk fractures and lower trunk contusions/abrasions. The most common incidence for injury was at home (45%).
Conclusions
Given relatively low-acuity leg problems such as strains and sprains account for a substantial number of emergency department visits pertaining to leg problems, use of telephone triage, scheduled same or next-day urgent care appointments, and other alternatives to the traditional emergency room might result in better use of emergency healthcare resources.
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One of the authors (KL) has received funding for his research fellowship from the Marti-Keuning Eckhardt Foundation, the Netherlands and the Anna Foundation, the Netherlands.
Each author certifies that he or she has no commercial associations (eg, consultancies, stock ownership, equity interest, patent/licensing arrangements, etc) that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted article.
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Lambers, K., Ootes, D. & Ring, D. Incidence of Patients with Lower Extremity Injuries Presenting to US Emergency Departments by Anatomic Region, Disease Category, and Age. Clin Orthop Relat Res 470, 284–290 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11999-011-1982-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11999-011-1982-z