Development and Testing of a Pediatric Cervical Spine Injury Risk Assessment Tool (C-Spine)

April 13, 2026 updated by: Julie Leonard
Cervical spine injuries (CSI) are serious, but rare events in children. Spinal precautions (rigid cervical collar and immobilization on a longboard) in the prehospital setting may be beneficial for children with CSI, but are poorly studied. In contrast, spinal precautions for pediatric trauma patients without CSI are common and may be associated with harm. Spinal precautions result in well-documented adverse physical and physiological sequelae. Of substantial concern is that the mere presence of prehospital spinal precautions may lead to a cascade of events that results in the increased use of inappropriate radiographic testing in the emergency department (ED) to evaluate children for CSI and thus an unnecessary, increased exposure to ionizing radiation and lifetime risk of cancer. Most children who receive spinal precautions and/or are imaged for potential CSI, and particularly those imaged with computed tomography (CT), are exposed to potential harm with no demonstrable benefit. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a Pediatric CSI Risk Assessment Tool that can be used in the prehospital and ED settings to reduce the number of children who receive prehospital spinal precautions inappropriately and are imaged unnecessarily while identifying all children who are truly at risk for CSI.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
22444

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact

The name and contact information for the person who can answer enrollment questions for a clinical study. Each location where the study is being conducted may also have a specific contact, who may be better able to answer those questions.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • California
      • Los Angeles, California, United States, 90027
        • Children's Hospital Los Angeles
      • Oakland, California, United States, 94609
        • UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital
      • Sacramento, California, United States, 95817
        • Children's Hospital UC Davis Health
    • Colorado
      • Denver, Colorado, United States, 80045
        • Children's Hospital Colorado
    • District of Columbia
      • Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States, 20310
        • Children's National Medical Center
    • Georgia
      • Atlanta, Georgia, United States, 30329
        • Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
    • Massachusetts
      • Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02115
        • Boston Children's Hospital
    • Michigan
      • Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States, 48109
        • CS Mott Children's Hospital
    • Missouri
      • St Louis, Missouri, United States, 63130
        • Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
    • Ohio
      • Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, 45229
        • Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
      • Columbus, Ohio, United States, 43205
        • Nationwide Children's Hospital
      • Columbus, Ohio, United States, 43210
        • The Ohio State University
    • Pennsylvania
      • Dallas, Pennsylvania, United States, 75235
        • UT Southwestern Medical Center
      • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 19104
        • Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
      • Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, 15224
        • UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh
    • Texas
      • Houston, Texas, United States, 77030
        • Texas Children's Hospital
    • Utah
      • Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, 84113
        • Primary Children's Medical Center
    • Wisconsin
      • Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, 53226
        • Medical College of Wisconsin

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

No older than 18 years (Child, Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Children aged 0-17 years with known or suspected blunt trauma exposure that arrive at participating children's hospitals and meet study eligibility criteria. No exclusion based on sex/gender, race, ethnic group, or language.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age 0-17 years
  • Known or suspected exposure to blunt trauma

At least one of the following applies to the patient:

  • Undergoing trauma team evaluation
  • Transported from the scene to participating facility by EMS
  • Undergoing cervical spine imaging at participating facility
  • Transferred to participating facility with cervical spine imaging

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Exposed to solely penetrating trauma (e.g. a gunshot or stab wound)

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort

Group / Cohort

A group or subgroup of participants in an observational study that is assessed for biomedical or health outcomes.
Derivation Cohort
The derivation cohort collected data to derive the clinical decision rule.
Validation Cohort
The validation cohort collected data to validate the clinical decision rule

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Cervical Spine Injury
Time Frame: CSI diagnosed within 21 days of emergency department presentation
The primary outcome used to derive and validate the prediction rule is the presence of cervical spine injury (CSI) defined as vertebral fracture, ligamentous injury, intraspinal hemorrhage, or spinal cord injury involving the cervical region of the spine (occiput to the 7th cervical vertebra, including ligaments attaching the 7th vertebrae to the 1st thoracic vertebra) on any c-spine imaging modality, including x-ray, skeletal survey, CT scan, and/or MRI.
CSI diagnosed within 21 days of emergency department presentation

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Validate the Pediatric CSI Risk Assessment Tool using prospective observational data obtained from EMS providers.
Time Frame: 8/1/2018-7/31/2023
8/1/2018-7/31/2023

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
Julie Leonard

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
December 12, 2018

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
July 1, 2023

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
July 1, 2023

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
September 9, 2021

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
September 9, 2021

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
September 20, 2021

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
April 15, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
April 13, 2026

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • 5R01HD091347 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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