Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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The objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of belt-positioning booster seats, compared with no restraint use and with seat belt use only, during motor vehicle crashes among U.S. children. ⋯ Children using belt-positioning booster seats appear to experience a higher risk of AIS > 0 injury to the neck and thorax than do children using seat belts only. Future research should examine whether the observed increase in neck and thorax injuries can be attributed to improper use of booster seats.
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Pneumonia hospitalization rates are frequently reported as a measure of pneumonia disease burden in the United States. However, a detailed understanding of pneumonia burden in all health care settings, including the emergency department (ED), is essential for measuring the full effect of this disease on the population and planning and evaluating interventions to reduce pneumonia-related morbidity. The aim of this study was to quantify pneumonia-attributable ED visits in the United States among children and adults during the 3-year period July 2006 through June 2009. ⋯ Pneumonia accounts for 2.2% of ED visits in the United States and results in approximately seven to eight ED visits per 1000 persons per year. A substantial proportion of pneumonia cases diagnosed in the ED are managed in treat-and-release ED outpatient visits, highlighting that enumeration of ED visit rates provides important complementary information to hospitalization rates for the assessment of pneumonia burden.
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The authors sought to describe the frequency of short-term side effects experienced by older adults initiating treatment with opioid-containing analgesics for acute musculoskeletal pain. ⋯ Among older adults initiating treatment with opioid-containing analgesics for musculoskeletal pain, side effects were common and sometimes resulted in medication discontinuation.
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The objective was to identify the effect of the Alternative Quality Contract (AQC), a global payment system implemented by Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) of Massachusetts in 2009, on emergency department (ED) presentations. ⋯ In the first year of this AQC, we did not find evidence of change in aggregate ED use. Similar global budget programs may not alter ED use in the initial implementation period.