National Trends in Pediatric Basilar Skull Fractures

Objectives:(1) Identify the current public health burden of pediatric temporal bone fractures. (2) Determine if the introduction of bicycle helmet and child safety seat laws has resulted in a change in national patterns.Methods:The 2000 and 2009 Kids’ Inpatient Databases were used to gather data on a sample of all pediatric discharges in the United States during the years 2000 and 2009. Children diagnosed with basilar skull fractures were identified by corresponding ICD-9 codes. Database analyses generated national estimates of summary statistics and comparison of trends over the 9-year period.Results:The estimated prevalence of pediatric skull base fractures requiring hospitalization in the United States has remained essentially stable with 9641 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 8782, 10,501) admissions in 2000 and 10,581 (95% CI: 9532, 11,630) in 2009. Likewise, the mean age is unchanged from 10.02 (95% CI: 9.66, 10.38) years to 9.76 (95% CI: 9.44, 10.07). The proportion of female patients is the same (33%...