National Characteristics of Lymphatic Malformations in Children: Inpatient Estimates and Trends in the United States, 2000 to 2009.

ABSTRACT

With ever increasing demands to manage finite resources for health care utilization, we performed an investigation to identify inpatient clinical characteristics and trends in children with lymphatic malformations using the Kids' Inpatient Database, years 2000 to 2009, to help identify populations best suited for resource deployment. Subjects included children 18 years and below with International Classification of Diseases (ICD), ninth revision code 228.1-lymphangioma, any site. In the United States, between 2000 and 2009, inpatient pediatric patients with lymphatic malformations most commonly affected children aged 3 years and younger, urban hospital locations, and the South and West regions. There was no significant change in age of children with lymphatic malformations or the distribution of their age from year to year, P=0.948 and 0.4223, respectively. No significant evidence for seasonal variation or effect on inpatient admission was identified, P=0.7071. A great majority of admissions (>96%) were in urban locations across each year. There was also no significant change in breakdown of admissions by geographic location, P=0.7133. Further investigation may help to elucidate how to improve access to multidisciplinary vascular anomalies teams to optimize care for these children with unique and complex lymphatic malformations.