You know that parental instinct when something just isn’t quite right with your child? You text your mom friends and gut check with your partner, but you don’t think you’re being anxious — something might really be wrong. Well, odds are your instinct could be spot-on: A new study published in the JAMA Network found that parents were right 9 times out of 10 when they suspected their child was seriously ill or injured.
During the study, researchers tracked 2,400 children and teens treated in the emergency room at Oulu University Hospital in Finland. Every child’s parents completed a 36-question survey as part of their child’s treatment. The researchers were testing whether offering the questionnaire digitally could help families decide at home if an ER trip was truly necessary.
The questionnaire ultimately wasn’t deemed accurate enough to replace being evaluated by a physician, but the researchers unearthed a pretty cool data point they hadn’t anticipated: parents’ self-reported “worry” was one of the strongest predictors of serious illness, even more telling than questions about specific symptoms.
Parents who identified themselves as moderately to highly worried on the questionnaire were justified in their feelings — 91% of those respondents’ children did require treatment in the emergency room. Those treatments ranged from IV antibiotics and oxygen support to admission to the pediatric intensive care unit and even surgery.
“Parental concern is an important warning sign,” said lead researcher Dr. Hilla Pöyry, a pediatric specialist at the University of Oulu, in a press release. “If a parent is worried about the condition of their suddenly ill child, the child must have the opportunity to be assessed by a doctor. A worried parent should not be left alone to make a remote assessment of their child’s condition.”
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, you should call 911 immediately if your child:
- Can’t breathe
- Chokes on something you can’t get loose
- Has a seizure
- Has a serious allergic reaction
- Has a serious skin burn or escapes a burning room in a closed space
- Has a severe injury, like a broken bone, crushed limb, or deep wound
- Ingests something poisonous
- Is bleeding and you can’t stop it
- Is found unresponsive after being underwater
- Loses consciousness
- Witnesses, or is a victim of, a serious crime
In line with this new study’s findings, the AAP also says that if you’re not sure what’s wrong but believe your child is in danger, call 911. So, when you get that twinge of worry in your gut, don’t second-guess yourself. It’s up to the doctors of the world to tell us if something really is wrong, and we know our kids well enough to know when something is not right.
