{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,16]],"date-time":"2026-10-16T08:44:49Z","timestamp":1792140289300,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":27,"publisher":"Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)","content-domain":{"domain":["lww.com","ovid.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":[],"abstract":"\n Background:<\/jats:title>\n This study evaluated the volume, trends, and demographic disparities in pediatric ophthalmologic emergency department (ED) visits in New Jersey (NJ) from 2020 to 2024.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Methods:<\/jats:title>\n This retrospective cross-sectional study used aggregate data from the NJ State Health Assessment Data (NJSHAD). We identified ED encounters among patients aged 0 to 19 years with primary ophthalmic ICD-10-CM diagnoses (H10, H00-H01, S05, H57.1, and T15). Temporal patterns were assessed using Pearson correlation and linear regression, with 2016 to 2019 used as a prepandemic reference. Demographic, payer, racial\/ethnic rate, county, and workforce analyses were restricted to the 2020 to 2024 period.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Results:<\/jats:title>\n \n A total of 88,271 ophthalmologic ED encounters were included from 2016 to 2024. Annual volume averaged 12,095 encounters during 2016 to 2019 and fell to 4607 in 2020, 61.9% below the prepandemic mean. Visits subsequently recovered, although 2024 volume remained 15.2% below the 2016 to 2019 mean. Conjunctivitis remained near 30% of its prepandemic mean in 2020 to 2021, while traumatic diagnoses recovered from 51.4% to 71.0%. During 2020 to 2024, 39,890 encounters accounted for 1.37% of pediatric ED visits; Medicaid was the primary payer in 52.1% of cases. Conjunctivitis visit rates were 7.78 times higher among Black non-Hispanic children and 5.13 times higher among Hispanic children than among White non-Hispanic children. County rates correlated with Medicaid enrollment (\n r<\/jats:italic>\n =0.861,\n P<\/jats:italic>\n <0.001).\n <\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Conclusions:<\/jats:title>\n Pediatric ophthalmologic ED visits in NJ fell sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequently recovered toward prepandemic levels. Higher conjunctivitis encounter rates among Black non-Hispanic and Hispanic children and in counties with greater Medicaid enrollment suggest persistent disparities in access to outpatient eye care.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1097\/pec.0000000000003736","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,16]],"date-time":"2026-10-16T08:00:09Z","timestamp":1792137609000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1097\/lww.0000000000001000","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Trends and Disparities in Pediatric Ophthalmologic Emergency Department Visits in New Jersey, 2020-2024: A 5-Year Population-Based Analysis"],"prefix":"10.1097","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0464-5503","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sedra T.","family":"Alabed","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Juan 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