Sharp Rise Seen In Serious Dog Bites

Risks: Hospital Admissions for Dog Bites Are on the Rise
By RONI CARYN RABIN

The number of Americans hospitalized for dog bites almost doubled over a 15-year-period, increasing to 9,500 in 2008 from 5,100 in 1993, a new government study reports.

The increase vastly exceeded population growth, and pet ownership increased only slightly during the same period, said the report’s author, Anne Elixhauser, a senior research scientist with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

The report was an analysis of emergency visits and inpatient stays that drew on data from the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample for 2008 and from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample for 1993-2008.

“It’s really kind of frightening, and unfortunately, we’re at a loss to explain it,” Dr. Elixhauser said. “It’s a pretty hefty increase.”

About 866 people a day went to the emergency room with dog bites in 2008, and about 26 people were admitted each day.

Children under 5 and adults 65 and older were most likely to be hospitalized after a bite, and residents of rural areas made four times as many emergency room visits and had three times as many hospital admissions for dog bites than those from nonrural areas, the report said.

Almost half of the hospitalized patients needed treatment for skin and tissue infections, and more than half needed procedures like skin grafts or wound debridement. Treatment cost an average of $18,200 per person.

NYTimes