Hospitalizations and Hospital Charges for Sports-Related Fractures among Children in the United States

The aims of this study were to describe the characteristics of hospitalizations resulting from pediatric sports-related fractures and to examine factors associated with longer hospital stay and higher hospital charges. Using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample discharge database, hospitalizations resulting from a primary diagnosis of sports-related fracture among children aged 5 to 18 from 2002 through 2008 were selected using external causes of injury codes and analyzed using multiple regressions. From 2002 to 2008, 7,792 hospitalizations with a primary diagnosis of sports-related fracture were identied. When weighted, it represented over 37,881 hospitalizations nationwide. Boys accounted for 88.4% of the hospitalizations. More than half of the hospitalizations were due to fractures to the lower extremities (56.5%). e average length of hospital stay was 2.2 days, with the estimated annual hospital charges totaling over $106.4 million. Teaching hospitals and hospitals located in an urban area or the west region had signicantly higher hospital charges than nonteaching hospitals and hospitals located in a rural area or in the northeast, respectively. e frequency and cost of sports-related fracture hospitalization among children is a signicant burden. Our ndings support the need for research to identify eective strategies to prevent fractures in children while participating in sports.