Emergency Department Visits Among Children Aged 0-17 by Selected Characteristics: United States, 2019-2020.

ABSTRACT

With the disruptions to access and use of care caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, emergency department (ED) visit rates decreased from 2019 to 2020 among children and adolescents (1). The ED visit rate for children under age 1 year in 2020 was nearly one-half of the rate in 2019, and the rate for those aged 1-17 years decreased over the same period (2). This report uses data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS) (3,4) to compare ED visits for children aged 0-17 from 2019 to 2020, by age group, sex, and race and ethnicity, and to assess changes in wait time at ED visits.