Unintentional and Sexual Abuse-related Pediatric Female Genital Trauma: A Multiinstitutional Study of Free-standing Pediatric Hospitals in the United States

Abstract

To evaluate a large national database of free-standing pediatric institutions to define the characteristics of patients who have both unintentional and sexual abuse-related pediatric female genital trauma (PFGT), to describe variation in practice across institutions and between trauma and nontrauma hospitals, and to determine factors associated with diagnostic evaluation and surgical repair of PGFT. We performed a retrospective cohort using the Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS) discharge database with information from 41 freestanding children's hospitals. We identified inpatient and emergency department visits for female patients younger than 18 years of age with International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision diagnosis codes for nonobstetric PFGT discharged in the 5-year period between January 1, 2003 and December 31, 2007. We identified 5664 patients with PFGT, with 64% having been evaluated in state-designated trauma centers. Although overall only 4.2% (236/5664) underwent a diagnostic evaluation, independent of age, mechanism of injury, associated injuries, and insurance status, patients evaluated in a trauma center were 2.6 times more likely to have a diagnostic evaluation. Patients who underwent a diagnostic evaluation were 18 times more likely to have a surgical repair. Other factors associated with increased odds of diagnostic evaluation included age group and specific mechanisms of injury. Among institutions in PHIS, diagnostic evaluation and surgical repair is rarely performed and is defined by variability in approach between hospitals--especially between trauma vs nontrauma institutions. This study of PFGT suggests that aggressive diagnostic evaluation in the operating room may be beneficial for this population.