P3A286: Epidemiology of Children Hospitalized Due to Trampoline-associated Injuries in the US During 2019

Background: Despite multiple policy statements from AAP (the latest in 2012) and other societies, trampolining is a popular recreational activity among children, especially at birthday parties and events. Around half a million trampolines are sold each year in the US, and trampoline-associated injuries are on the rise. Although most injuries involve extremities, permanent neurologic injury happens in 1 in 200 incidents. The presenting author has suffered from such an injury. Most published data regarding trampoline-associated injuries involve emergency room visits. There is a paucity of published literature about hospitalization due to trampoline-associated injuries. This epidemiological study aims to present hospitalization rate due to trampoline-associated injuries in the US and describe the range of pediatric injuries in those requiring hospitalization.

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional analysis utilizing the Kids’ Inpatient Database for the year 2019. Children from 1 month to 20 years of age with a discharge diagnosis of trampoline-associated injury were included using the ICD-10 code Y93.44. Frequencies of various injuries were extracted. Demographic characteristics and outcome variables (length of stay and hospital charges) were compared between discharges with and without trampoline-associated injuries. Age-specific prevalence of hospitalization among all discharges and the US population was analyzed. The chi-square test and student t-test were used for inferential statistical comparisons.

Results: Out of 2,140,590 non-neonatal pediatric discharges in the US during 2019, trampoline-associated injuries were present in 885, with a prevalence of 41.3 per 100,000 discharges. The population-based hospitalization rate was 10.3 per million US children. Hospitalization with trampoline-associated injuries occurred more often over the weekend and during summer months in white male children with private insurance who are in the 4th income quartile when compared to other discharges (Table 1). Children aged 5-14 had the highest prevalence of hospitalization with trampoline-associated injuries. Age-specific hospitalization rates are presented in Table 2. Injury location was documented in 27% of cases, with half occurring at home and the other half in recreational areas. Upper limb fractures were the most common type of injury, followed by lower limb fractures. An intracranial injury occurred in 8.2%, spinal cord injury in 2.4%, paralysis in 1.1%, and 3% from an internal abdominal injury, with 13.2% (10.8-16.0) having at least one severe type of injury. The average hospital length of stay and hospital charges were 2 (1.8-2.2) days and $44,484 ($40,287-$48,681), respectively, and were significantly lower than in discharges without trampoline-associated injury.

Conclusion: The prevalence of hospitalization with trampoline-associated injury is 10 per million children annually in the US. 13% of these children have serious injuries. Continued advocacy for trampoline safety is essential.