Presenter Profile
Nikita Patil, DO
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences/Arkansas Children's Hospital
npatil@uams.edu
Nikita Patil, DO, is a third-year pediatric emergency medicine fellow at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, AR. She is originally from California, however her path in medicine has taken her all over the country including New York for her undergraduate degree in biomedical sciences and Mississippi for medical school. She completed her general pediatric residency at University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center in Chattanooga, TN. She has a special interest in injury prevention.
Presentations
Pediatric ATV related injuries in Arkansas by region
Nikita Patil, DO
Andrew Tran, MD
Lee Crawley, MS, RRT-NPS
April Clawson, MD
Kristyn Jeffries, MD
Renita Pushparajah Mak, MD
The use of commercial or recreational all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) has significantly increased, particularly amongst the pediatric population with over 300,000 children requiring Emergency Department evaluation between 2001 and 2010. Similar to national trends, ATV use in Arkansas has also increased over the years. However, little is known regarding specific demographic information of those who sustain ATV injuries in Arkansas in more recent years. We aim to compare frequency and severity of ATV injuries in urban and rural parts of Arkansas.
This is a retrospective demographic study of all patients that sought emergency department (ED) care due to an ATV related injury in Arkansas between 2018 and 2023. Data from hospitals outside of the Arkansas Children’s Hospital system were captured by utilizing the trauma repository from the Arkansas Department of Health. Review of individual patient charts was performed with documentation of various demographics including but not limited to age, race, gender, zip codes, ATV type, transport data, and ED disposition status. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data.
In total, 3,356 patients under the age of 21 received ED care due to an ATV related injury during this five-year time frame. Of these patients, 65% were male, 82.2% white, 9.6% black, and 6.9% Hispanic ethnicity. The median age was 13 years, with total ages ranging from 6 months to 21 years. The majority of cases occurred in 2020, with 677 ED encounters, and the least in 2018 with 441 total encounters. The greatest number of cases were in Cabot, AR which overall has a low child opportunity index and area deprivation index of 5 and 8, indicating areas of high socioeconomic disadvantage.
These results show that the rates of ATV related injuries in Arkansas are consistent with national trends. These injuries do occur more frequently in rural areas, especially those that have and lower childhood opportunity indices. We hope to use these results to support community education around safe ATV riding practices in schools and/or recreational areas, particularly in rural regions of Arkansas. Furthermore, these results may support changes within state or local legislation for safer ATV use.
1. Examine demographic characteristics of pediatric ATV injuries in Arkansas
2. Identify geographic distribution of these injuries to target community specific education regarding ATV use
3. Identify socioeconomic status and barriers of communities with high rates of ATV injuries