Table 3.

Summary of studies addressing the effect of demographic characteristics on CT usage in children in emergency departments

Age
Larson et al2	CT use in the ED was greater in adolescents and school-aged children than in preschool-aged children and infants or toddlers during the entire study period (1995–2008).
Adelgais et al17	Children 8 years and older were 1.5 times more likely to have a Cervical spine CT than younger children.
Broder et al40	Increases in CT utilization were most pronounced in adolescents ages 13 to 17 years (62–731% increase across CT types in adolescents compared to 8–283% increase in children aged 3–12).
Blackwell et al50	CT was used more frequently in the older age groups: 11–13% order rate in children up to 4 years, in comparison with 32% order rate in children aged 10 to 18 years.
Fahimi et al41	The youngest age group (aged 0–3 years) had no significant change in the proportion undergoing CT scanning, whereas the 4- to 12-year-old and 12- to 18-year-old groups exhibited significant increases in CT use (about 6-fold and 4-fold increases, respectively).
Grim et al53	CT use was almost 2-fold greater in 12- to18-year-old children compared to 6- to 12-year-old children.
Mannix et al90	Older age was associated with higher CT use in paediatric head trauma [OR = 1.3, 95% CI (1.1 to 1.5)].
Marin et al48	Compared with infants, all age groups had decreased odds of any CT type.
Shahi et al11	Patients aged 0–1 years had higher odds of CT utilization than patients aged 13–17 years [OR = 2.27; 95% CI (2.26–2.27)].
Race
Fahimi et al41	Black children were one-half as likely to undergo a CT scan compared with white children [OR = 0.50, 95% CI (0.31–0.81)].
Mannix et al90	White race was associated with higher CT use in paediatric head trauma [OR = 1.5, 95% CI (1.02 to 2.1)].
Natale et al91	White children were more likely to undergo a CT scan. This race disparity was present, however, only in low risk patients, and was not observed for high risk patients.
Larson et al2	There was no significant difference in CT use between patients of different races from 1995 to 2008, excepting 2007.
Gender
Marin et al48	Male patients were more likely than female patients to undergo CT scan among all EDs [OR = 1.25, 95% CI (1.20 to 1.31)].
Fahimi et al41	Male patients were overall more likely than females to undergo CT scan [OR = 1.46, 95% CI (1.11–1.92)].
Shahi et al11	Male patients had lower odds of CT utilization than females [OR = 0.86; 95% CI (0.86–0.86)].
Larson et al2	There was no significant difference in CT use between male and female patients from 1995 to 2008, excepting 2000.