WIP 30 - Health Equity and Unintentional Pediatric Cannabis Ingestion

Publication Number: WIP 30.7612

Melissa Blumberg, Nemours Children's Hospital, Audubon, NJ, United States; Wendy Pomerantz, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Blue Ash, OH, United States; Amy Thompson, Nemours Children's Hospital, Wilmington, DE, United States; Elizabeth Lendrum, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, United States; Brandon George, Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, United States

Background: Unintentional cannabis ingestions in children have increased drastically following the legalization of cannabis. After medical stabilization, emergency department (ED) management can vary regarding disposition, social work (SW) consultation, and child protective services (CPS) reporting. There is limited data investigating health equity in the care of children with unintentional cannabis ingestions.

Objective: We aim to better characterize demographic and socioeconomic factors related to pediatric unintentional cannabis ingestion in a post-legalization era. This study will investigate social SW and CPS reporting related to post-legalization cannabis ingestion in a multi-center evaluation. Additionally, we will explore social deprivation in conjunction with demographic and socioeconomic factors in pediatric unintentional cannabis ingestions.

Design/Methods: This multi-center retrospective cohort study will be conducted at two large, free-standing children’s hospitals. Data will be obtained electronically from the pediatric ED electronic medical records (EMR). Encounters will be included for children aged ≤6 years cared for between June 2016 and August 2024 at Nemours’s Children’s Hospital in Delaware and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in Ohio, based on dates of cannabis legalization. Pediatric ED encounters with a positive urine drug screen for tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) will be included. Data collected from the EMR includes patient demographics, insurance status, ingestion location, and disposition. The social deprivation index, calculated based on zip code, will be assigned to each patient. Manual chart review will determine if a SW evaluation or CPS report was made prior to disposition. Descriptive statistics will be used to characterize the population. Comparisons of SW and CPS reports will utilize Chi-squared analysis and student’s t-tests for categorical and continuous variables, respectively. This study is IRB exempt. Data has been requested and analysis will begin within the next month.