Fall-related attendance and associated hospitalisation of children and adolescents in Hong Kong: a 12-year retrospective study

ObjectivesThe present study aimed to examine the trends and characteristics of fall-related attendance in accident and emergency department (AED) by injury type and the trend in associated average length of stay (LOS) among children and adolescents in Hong Kong.DesignA retrospective approach was adopted.SettingAED, involving all local public emergency departments from 2001 to 2012.Participants63 557 subjects aged 0–19 years with fall injury record were included in the analysis.Primary outcome measuresFall-related injury number and rates were calculated and reported. Poisson and negative binomial regression models were used to study the trends of injury incidence rate at different body regions.ResultsAED fall-related attendance rate increased significantly with an annual percentage change of 4.45 (95% CI 3.43 to 5.47%, p