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Health Services Financing and Utilization
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Hospital Utilization
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In 2004, over 20 percent of children went to a
hospital emergency room or emergency department (ER/ED) at least
once. Children with family incomes above the Federal poverty level
were less likely than children with family incomes below the Federal
poverty level to have visited the ER/ED. Children in low-income
families were more likely than their peers in higher-incomes families
to have gone one to three times (25.5 versus 19.1 percent) and four
or more times (3.3 versus 1.0 percent).
The rate of ER/ED visits varied by other
factors, including age, race and ethnicity. Children under
5 years of age were more likely than children in other age
groups to have visited the ER/ED at least once. The rate
of visits among this group was 24.3 percent, compared to
18.4 percent among children aged 5 to 9 years, 16.5 percent
among children aged 10 to 14 years, and 18.8 percent among
children aged 15 to 17 years. Non-Hispanic Black children
had the highest rate of ER/ED visits in 2004 (23.4 percent),
followed by Hispanic children (20.8 percent), and non-Hispanic
White children (20.6 percent); non-hispanic children of
other races (including Asian) had the lowest rate (16.7
percent).
>
Bar Chart: Children’s Trips to the Emergency
Room/Emergency Department, by Poverty Level: 2004
> Bar
Chart: Children’s Trips to the Emergency
Room/Emergency Department, by Age: 2004
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Child Health USA 2006 is not copyrighted. Readers are free to duplicate and use all or part of the information contained on this page. Suggested Citation: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau.
Child Health USA 2006. Rockville, Maryland: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2006. |