Hospital care in the first 10 years of life of children with congenital anomalies in six European countries: data from the EUROlinkCAT cohort linkage study.
Arch Dis Child
; 109(5): 402-408, 2024 Apr 18.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38373775
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
To quantify the hospital care for children born with a major congenital anomaly up to 10 years of age compared with children without a congenital anomaly. DESIGN, SETTING AND PATIENTS 79 591 children with congenital anomalies and 2 021 772 children without congenital anomalies born 1995-2014 in six European countries in seven regions covered by congenital anomaly registries were linked to inpatient electronic health records up to their 10th birthday. MAIN OUTCOMEMEASURES:
Number of days in hospital and number of surgeries.RESULTS:
During the first year of life among the seven regions, a median of 2.4% (IQR 2.3, 3.2) of children with a congenital anomaly accounted for 18% (14, 24) of days in hospital and 63% (62, 76) of surgeries. Over the first 10 years of life, the percentages were 17% (15, 20) of days in hospital and 20% (19, 22) of surgeries. Children with congenital anomalies spent 8.8 (7.5, 9.9) times longer in hospital during their first year of life than children without anomalies (18 days compared with 2 days) and 5 (4.1-6.1) times longer aged, 5-9 (0.5 vs 0.1 days). In the first year of life, children with gastrointestinal anomalies spent 40 times longer and those with severe heart anomalies 20 times longer in hospital reducing to over 5 times longer when aged 5-9.CONCLUSIONS:
Children with a congenital anomaly consume a significant proportion of hospital care resources. Priority should be given to public health primary prevention measures to reduce the risk of congenital anomalies.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Congenital Abnormalities
/
Heart Defects, Congenital
Limits:
Child
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Pregnancy
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
En
Journal:
Arch Dis Child
/
Arch. dis. child
/
Archives of disease in childhood
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Country of publication: