Characteristics of paediatric frequent presenters at emergency departments: A whole-of-population study.

Aim: To quantify the frequency of emergency department (ED) presentations and profile the socio-demographic, health and presentation characteristics of paediatric ED frequent presenters.

Methods: A population-based data linkage study of 55 921 children in the South Australian Early Childhood Data Project aged 0-12 years with 100 976 presentations to public hospital EDs in South Australia. For each child, the total number of recurrent ED presentations during a 364-day period post-index presentation was calculated. Frequent presenters were children who experienced ≥4 recurrent ED presentations. We determined the socio-demographic, health and presentation characteristics by number of recurrent presentations.

Results: Children with ≥4 recurrent presentations (4.4%) accounted for 15.4% of all paediatric ED presentations and 22.5% of subsequent admissions to hospital during the 12-month study period. Compared to children with no recurrent ED presentation, frequent presenters had higher proportions of socio-economic and health disadvantage at birth. One in two (49.3%) frequent presenters had at least one injury presentation and one (21.3%) in five had at least one presentation related to a chronic condition.

Conclusions: Children with ≥4 presentations do not represent the majority of ED users. Nevertheless, they represent a disproportionate burden accounting for 15% of all paediatric ED presentations in a 12-month period. Frequent presenters were characterised by early socio-economic and health disadvantage, and childhood injury. Strategies targeting social disadvantage and childhood injury may reduce the burden of ED presentations.