Annual acute hospital cost of paediatric head injury in australia-a paediatric research in emergency departments international collaborative (predict) study

Abstract

Objectives & Background Children with head injuries (HIs)frequently present to acute care settings. Most injuries are mild,but a small portion of patients have clinically significant intracranial injuries. An attempt to estimate the cost of paediatric HIsusing prospectively collected data has never been attempted inAustralia. We aimed to estimate the total cost paediatric HI inAustralia and provide an understanding of the costs associatedwith different causative and presentation factors.Methods The study was embedded in a prospective observational study of 20,255 children <18 years designed to validatethree published clinical decision rules. Each patient's hospitalpresentation was micro-costed and then extrapolated to anannualised Australia-wide figure using Australian IndependentHospital Pricing Authority data.Results There were 109,729 cases of HI in children aged 0-18years across Australia in the fiscal year 2012-2013 (1.67% oftotal emergency presentations). The average cost of each HI was$1348.21 [95%CI: 1173.02 to 1523.40]. The total cost of HIin Australia was $147.94 million [95% CI: 128.71 to 167.17].Regression and generalized linear models both demonstrate thatmotor vehicle accidents (MVAs) and non-accidental injury (NAI)are the most significant drivers of cost, as are injuries presentingwith vomiting, seizure and loss of consciousness greater than5 minutes.Conclusion Paediatric head injury represents a significant costto the Australian healthcare system. Efforts to reduce the maindrivers of cost-MVAs and NAI-may reduce this.L6242149112018-10-15 <br />