ArticlePrehospital emergency care
Pediatric Use of Emergency Medical Services: The Role of Chronic Illnesses and Behavioral Health Problems.
Article in Prehospital emergency care. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- Emergency Medical Services and Police Utilization for Pediatric Mental and Behavioral Health Concerns Within a Large Hospital System.Pediatric emergency care · 2025Article
- Emergency Department Pediatric Mental and Behavioral Health Patients Transported by Emergency Medical Services and Police: Trends and Interventions.Academic pediatrics · 2024Article
- 9-1-1 Activations from Ambulatory Care Centers: A Sicker Pediatric Population.Prehospital and disaster medicine · 2023Article
- EMS Responses for Pediatric Behavioral Health Emergencies in the United States: A 4-Year Descriptive Evaluation.Prehospital and disaster medicine · 2023Article
- Article
- Effects of Child Protective Custody Status and Health Risk Behaviors on Health Care Use Among Adolescents.Academic pediatrics · 2022Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveThe increasing use of prehospital emergency medical services (EMS) and its contribution to rising emergency department use and healthcare costs point to the need for better understanding factors associated with EMS use to inform preventive interventions. Understanding patient factors associated with pediatric use of EMS will inform pediatric-specific intervention. We examined pediatric patient demographic and health factors associated with one-time and repeat use of EMS.
methodsWe reviewed data from Baltimore City Fire Department EMS patient records over a 23-month period (2008-10) for patients under 21 years of age (n = 24,760). Repeat use was defined as involvement in more than one EMS incident during the observation period. Analyses compared demographics of EMS users to the city population and demographics and health problems of repeat and one-time EMS users. Health comparisons were conducted at the patient and incident levels of analysis.
resultsRepeat users (n = 1,931) accounted for 9.0% of pediatric users and 20.8% of pediatric incidents, and were over-represented among the 18-20 year age group and among females. While trauma accounted for approximately one-quarter of incidents, repeat versus one-time users had a lower proportion of trauma-related incidents (7.2% vs. 26.7%) and higher proportion of medical-related incidents (92.6% vs. 71.4%), including higher proportions of incidents related to asthma, seizures, and obstetric/gynecologic issues. In patient-level analysis, based on provider or patient reports, greater proportions of repeat compared to one-time users had asthma, behavioral health problems (mental, conduct and substance use problems), seizures, and diabetes.
conclusionsChronic somatic conditions and behavioral health problems appear to contribute to a large proportion of the repeat pediatric use of this EMS system. Interventions may be needed to engage repeat users in primary care and behavioral health services, to train EMS providers on the recognition and management of behavioral health emergencies, and to improve family care and self-management of pediatric asthma and other chronic conditions.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.