A national analysis of pediatric falls from a building. Issue 4 (April 2021) - McLoughlin, Robert J.
Highlights: Building falls are a common cause of injury for children under 12 years old. Those in urban areas more often experienced a building fall. Spring and summer were associated with higher odds of a building fall. Younger children more often had skull and face fractures, while older children more often had extremity fractures. Abstract: Introduction: Falls remain the leading cause of unintentional pediatric trauma in the United States. Identifying risk factors for pediatric building falls would influence public health policy. We hypothesized that building falls disproportionately affect low income communities. Methods: We performed a cross-sectional analysis of the Kids' Inpatient Database for years 2006, 2009, and 2012. We identified cases (age <12 years) of falls from a building using external cause of injury codes. Patient characteristics and injuries were analyzed using ICD-9 codes. National estimates were obtained using case weighting. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to adjust for confounders. Results: There were 2, 294 hospitalizations nationally for pediatric falls from a building. The victims were predominately male, in early childhood, non-Hispanic White, in the lowest income quartile, resided in urban settings, and occurred during summer. The mean age was 3.76 years. Logistic regression revealed males were 33% more likely than females, and as compared to non-Hispanic White youth, Black (33%) and Asian or Pacific Islanders (65%) were more likely to experience a fall from a building. Toddlers and those in early childhood were at significantly increased odds than those younger than one year old. Children in the highest income quartile were 29% more likely to experience a building fall. Conclusions: Building falls are a common cause of injury in the U.S. for children under 12 years old. Injury prevention strategies focused on the parents of children aged 1–5 years has the potential to make a significant public health impact.