Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences and Resilience on Adult Emergency Room

Frequent users, or individuals with more than 4 emergency department (ED) visits in a year, constitute 10% of all ED users but account for 30% of all visits. Individuals with adverse childhood experiences (ACE) are known to have worse health than the general population and may be more likely to utilize EDs. Resilience, the ability to adapt to adversity, is a modifiable variable. Low resilience is associated with increased healthcare utilization. The relationship between ACE and resilience has not been examined in the ED. This study examines the impact of ACE on the frequency of ED use and how resilience modifies this relationship.