Abstract
To identify the clinical conditions associated with substantial time spent in hospital by children aged 1-14 years, records of children admitted to hospital in 1975, 1979, and 1984 were studied. Analysis was by linkage of abstracts of routine records of hospital inpatient care in six districts in southern England covered by the Oxford record linkage study. The total time spend in hospital in the acute specialties each year was calculated by summing the lengths of stay of all episodes of care for each child in each year. First, admissions with long median times in hospital per child admitted were identified. These included, notably, fracture of femur and, in the later years, leukaemia, other malignant neoplasms, and congenital disorders of metabolism. Second conditions were identified which accounted for large numbers of children with lengths of stay of five days or more. These included, in particular, congenital anomalies, asthma, and appendicitis. Third, conditions were identified which accounted for the largest numbers of bed days used. These included congenital anomalies, hypertrophy of tonsils and adenoids, asthma, otitis media, appendicitis, and head injury. Median time spent in hospital per child admitted declined for most conditions but increased for leukaemia, other malignant neoplasms, and congenital disorders of metabolism. Admission rates for children who spent five days or more in hospital each year declined for all common conditions except asthma which increased. Total numbers of beds used increased for asthma and otitis media but declined for all other common conditions.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Anderson H. R. Is the prevalence of asthma changing? Arch Dis Child. 1989 Jan;64(1):172–175. doi: 10.1136/adc.64.1.172. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Bax M., Hart H., Jenkins S. The behaviour, development, and health of the young child: implications for care. Br Med J (Clin Res Ed) 1983 Jun 4;286(6380):1793–1796. doi: 10.1136/bmj.286.6380.1793. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Burney P. G., Chinn S., Rona R. J. Has the prevalence of asthma increased in children? Evidence from the national study of health and growth 1973-86. BMJ. 1990 May 19;300(6735):1306–1310. doi: 10.1136/bmj.300.6735.1306. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Essex-Cater A., Gilbert J., Robinson T., Littlewood J. M. Totally implantable venous access systems in paediatric practice. Arch Dis Child. 1989 Jan;64(1):119–123. doi: 10.1136/adc.64.1.119. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Goldacre M. J., Ingram R. M. Changing workload in ophthalmology: some observations from routine statistics. Br Med J (Clin Res Ed) 1983 May 14;286(6377):1560–1561. doi: 10.1136/bmj.286.6377.1560. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Haslum M. N. Length of preschool hospitalization, multiple admissions and later educational attainment and behaviour. Child Care Health Dev. 1988 Jul-Aug;14(4):275–291. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2214.1988.tb00581.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Hill A. M. Trends in paediatric medical admissions. BMJ. 1989 Jun 3;298(6686):1479–1483. doi: 10.1136/bmj.298.6686.1479. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Lamb S. M., David T. J. Playing with fire: an experiment in clinical budgeting. Br Med J (Clin Res Ed) 1985 Feb 23;290(6468):650–651. doi: 10.1136/bmj.290.6468.650. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- McClowry S. G. A review of the literature pertaining to the psychosocial responses of school -aged children to hospitalization. J Pediatr Nurs. 1988 Oct;3(5):296–311. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Sellar C., Goldacre M. J., Hawton K. Reliability of routine hospital data on poisoning as measures of deliberate self poisoning in adolescents. J Epidemiol Community Health. 1990 Dec;44(4):313–315. doi: 10.1136/jech.44.4.313. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]