# Risk Factors for Residual Medical Needs after Pediatric Trauma Injury

> **NIH NIH R21** · INDIANA UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS · 2020 · $62,227

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Approximately 300,000 children are hospitalized for nonfatal, traumatic injuries each year. Trauma has the
potential to lead to a life-long decrease in the quality of a child's life and place them at increased risk for
disability and early mortality. Trauma survivors can experience lasting deficits in physical and mental health,
leading to secondary conditions including pain, musculoskeletal dysfunction, cognitive impairment,
psychosocial difficulties, and sleep disturbances. These conditions can further lead to decreased participation
in physical activities, poor school performance, and substance use. To date, little knowledge exists about the
health care needs of pediatric survivors of traumatic injury, which are likely distinct from the adult population.
There is a critical need to develop an evidence base to inform later guidelines for physicians to improve follow-
up care after childhood injury.
The long-term goal of this research is to determine unmet health needs of the pediatric trauma population and
to design healthcare interventions that improve functional outcomes and reduce disability. Improving these
long-term outcomes requires better follow-up data acquisition: both acquiring unbiased pre-injury baseline
measurements and assessing post-acute care services. A major obstacle to improving long-term outcomes of
children with traumatic injury is the lack of reliable, longitudinal data on pediatric patients after hospital
discharge. The objective of this proposal is to identify patterns of healthcare utilization for two years following
injury and to assess parent-perceived health needs of injured children. The aims of this exploratory study are
to 1) identify long-term patterns of healthcare utilization in children after a critical injury, 2) determine whether
injured children are receiving recommended follow-up care after leaving the hospital, 3) characterize parents'
real-world barriers to post-acute care after traumatic injury, and 4) determine whether parents report unmet
health needs of children beyond the acute phase of recovery.
This research is significant because the proposed studies lay the foundation for improved follow-up care that
will not only help achieve better outcomes for injured children, but may also prevent future health problems as
adults. We anticipate that these findings will provide evidence to support the integration of acute and post-
acute services into a “seamless system of care” for injured patients and will provide data essential to
developing patient-centered guidelines for post-acute care after childhood trauma.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9896461
- **Project number:** 1R21HD097452-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** INDIANA UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS
- **Principal Investigator:** Teresa Maria Bell
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $62,227
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-03-01 → 2020-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9896461

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9896461, Risk Factors for Residual Medical Needs after Pediatric Trauma Injury (1R21HD097452-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9896461. Licensed CC0.

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