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Las Visitas Relacionadas con Lesiones y Enfermedades Relacionadas en las Personas sin Hogar Que Acuden a los Servicios de Urgencias
Author(s) -
Hammig Bart,
Jozkowski Kristen,
Jones Ches
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
academic emergency medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.221
H-Index - 124
eISSN - 1553-2712
pISSN - 1069-6563
DOI - 10.1111/acem.12343
Subject(s) - medicine , odds ratio , confidence interval , logistic regression , emergency department , injury prevention , poison control , odds , occupational safety and health , suicide prevention , public health , ambulatory , family medicine , medical emergency , emergency medicine , psychiatry , nursing , pathology
Objectives The authors examined the clinical characteristics of homeless patients presenting to emergency departments (EDs) in the United States, with a focus on unintentional and intentional injury events and related comorbid conditions. Methods The study included a nationally representative sample of patients presenting to EDs with data obtained from the 2007 through 2010 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS). Descriptive and analytical epidemiologic analyses were employed to examine injuries among homeless patients. Results Homeless persons made 603,000 visits annually to EDs, 55% of which were for injuries, with the majority related to unintentional (52%) and self‐inflicted (23%) injuries. Multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that homeless patients had a higher odds of presenting with injuries related to unintentional (odds ratio [OR] = 1.4. 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.1 to 1.9), self‐inflicted (OR = 6.0, 95% CI = 3.7 to 9.5), and assault (OR = 3.0, 95% CI = 1.5 to 5.9) injuries. Conclusions A better understanding of the injuries affecting homeless populations may provide medical and public health professionals insight into more effective ways to intervene and limit further morbidity and mortality related to specific injury outcomes.