LAUSR

The transition from pediatric to adult care is a high risk time for adolescent and young adult (AYA) patients with sickle cell disease (SCD). Management of acute pain is a major point of contact between patients and the healthcare system, and inconsistent care delivery in the ED and inpatient settings may be one important barrier to successful transition from pediatric to adult care. At our institution we reviewed all adult and pediatric ED visits for pain by AYA patients with SCD (defined as ages 13–22) over a three year period, examining the time to first analgesic administration, the equianalgesic dose of the first opioid given, calculated using standard opioid conversion tables, and the total daily equianalgesic opioid dose administered in patients who were hospitalized. To adjust for patients’ unequal numbers of ED visits during the study period, correlation between visits by the same patient were controlled in all analyses using