Hospital length of stay among children with and without congenital anomalies across 11 European regions—A population-based data linkage study

Stine Urhøj; Joachim Tan; Joan Morris; Joanne Given; Gianni Astolfi; Silvia Baldacci; Ingeborg Barisic; Joanna  Brigden; Cavero-Carbonell Clara; Hannah Evans; Mika Gissler; Anna Heino; Sue Jordan; Renée  Lutke; Ljubica  Odak; Aurora Puccini; Michele Santoro; Ieuan  Scanlon; Hermien E.K.  de Walle; Diana Wellesley; Oscar Zurriaga; Maria Loane; Garne Ester

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0269874

Hospital length of stay among children with and without congenital anomalies across 11 European regions—A population-based data linkage study

Stine Urhøj, Joachim Tan, Joan Morris, Joanne Given, Gianni Astolfi, Silvia Baldacci, Ingeborg Barisic, Joanna Brigden, Cavero-Carbonell Clara, Hannah Evans, Mika Gissler, Anna Heino, Sue Jordan, Renée Lutke, Ljubica Odak, Aurora Puccini, Michele Santoro, Ieuan Scanlon, Hermien E.K. de Walle, Diana WellesleyOscar Zurriaga, Maria Loane, Garne Ester

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

17 Citations (Scopus)

43 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Background Congenital anomalies are a leading cause of childhood morbidity, but little is known about the long-term outcomes. Objective To quantify the burden of disease in childhood for children with congenital anomalies by assessing the risk of hospitalisation, the number of days spent in hospital and proportion of children with extended stays (≥10 days). Methods European population-based record-linkage study in 11 regions in eight countries including children with congenital anomalies (EUROCAT children) and without congenital anomalies (reference children) living in the same regions. The children were born between 1995 and 2014 and were followed to their tenth birthday or 31/12/2015. European meta-analyses of the outcome measures were performed by two age groups, <1 year and 1-4 years. Results 99,416 EUROCAT children and 2,021,772 reference children were linked to hospital databases. Among EUROCAT children, 85% (95%-CI: 79-90%) were hospitalised in the first year and 56% (95%-CI: 51-61%) at ages 1-4 years, compared to 31% (95%-CI: 26-37%) and 25% (95%-CI: 19-31%) of the reference children. Median length of stay was 2-3 times longer for EUROCAT children in both age groups. The percentages of children with extended stays (≥10 days) in the first year were 24% (95%-CI: 20-29%) for EUROCAT children and 1% (95%-CI: 1-2%) for reference children. The median length of stay varied greatly between congenital anomaly subgroups, with children with gastrointestinal anomalies and congenital heart defects having the longest stays. Conclusions Children with congenital anomalies were more frequently hospitalised and median length of stay was longer. The outlook improves after the first year. Parents of children with congenital anomalies should be informed about the increased hospitalisations required for their child's care and the impact on family life and siblings, and they should be adequately supported.

Original language	English
Article number	e0269874
Journal	PLoS ONE
Volume	17
Issue number	7
Early online date	22 Jul 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0269874
Publication status	Published (in print/issue) - 22 Jul 2022

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
Copyright: © 2022 Urhoj et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Keywords

Medicine and health sciences
Research and analysis methods
Physical sciences
People and places
Length of Stay
Prevalence
Humans
Information Storage and Retrieval
Child, Preschool
Infant
Congenital Abnormalities/epidemiology
Hospitals
Heart Defects, Congenital
Female
Registries
Child
Congenital Abnormalities

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1371/journal.pone.0269874

LOS paper PlosOneFinal published version, 970 KB

Cite this

Urhøj, S., Tan, J., Morris, J., Given, J., Astolfi, G., Baldacci, S., Barisic, I., Brigden, J., Clara, C.-C., Evans, H., Gissler, M., Heino, A., Jordan, S., Lutke, R., Odak, L., Puccini, A., Santoro, M., Scanlon, I., de Walle, H. E. K., ... Ester, G. (2022). Hospital length of stay among children with and without congenital anomalies across 11 European regions—A population-based data linkage study. PLoS ONE, 17(7), Article e0269874. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0269874

@article{fb368ed9644d49fcbbaec0c16e9e955c,

title = "Hospital length of stay among children with and without congenital anomalies across 11 European regions—A population-based data linkage study",

abstract = "Background Congenital anomalies are a leading cause of childhood morbidity, but little is known about the long-term outcomes. Objective To quantify the burden of disease in childhood for children with congenital anomalies by assessing the risk of hospitalisation, the number of days spent in hospital and proportion of children with extended stays (≥10 days). Methods European population-based record-linkage study in 11 regions in eight countries including children with congenital anomalies (EUROCAT children) and without congenital anomalies (reference children) living in the same regions. The children were born between 1995 and 2014 and were followed to their tenth birthday or 31/12/2015. European meta-analyses of the outcome measures were performed by two age groups, <1 year and 1-4 years. Results 99,416 EUROCAT children and 2,021,772 reference children were linked to hospital databases. Among EUROCAT children, 85% (95%-CI: 79-90%) were hospitalised in the first year and 56% (95%-CI: 51-61%) at ages 1-4 years, compared to 31% (95%-CI: 26-37%) and 25% (95%-CI: 19-31%) of the reference children. Median length of stay was 2-3 times longer for EUROCAT children in both age groups. The percentages of children with extended stays (≥10 days) in the first year were 24% (95%-CI: 20-29%) for EUROCAT children and 1% (95%-CI: 1-2%) for reference children. The median length of stay varied greatly between congenital anomaly subgroups, with children with gastrointestinal anomalies and congenital heart defects having the longest stays. Conclusions Children with congenital anomalies were more frequently hospitalised and median length of stay was longer. The outlook improves after the first year. Parents of children with congenital anomalies should be informed about the increased hospitalisations required for their child's care and the impact on family life and siblings, and they should be adequately supported.",

keywords = "Medicine and health sciences, Research and analysis methods, Physical sciences, People and places, Length of Stay, Prevalence, Humans, Information Storage and Retrieval, Child, Preschool, Infant, Congenital Abnormalities/epidemiology, Hospitals, Heart Defects, Congenital, Female, Registries, Child, Congenital Abnormalities",

author = "Stine Urh{\o}j and Joachim Tan and Joan Morris and Joanne Given and Gianni Astolfi and Silvia Baldacci and Ingeborg Barisic and Joanna Brigden and Cavero-Carbonell Clara and Hannah Evans and Mika Gissler and Anna Heino and Sue Jordan and Ren{\'e}e Lutke and Ljubica Odak and Aurora Puccini and Michele Santoro and Ieuan Scanlon and {de Walle}, {Hermien E.K.} and Diana Wellesley and Oscar Zurriaga and Maria Loane and Garne Ester",

note = "Publisher Copyright: Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 Urhoj et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.",

year = "2022",

month = jul,

day = "22",

doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0269874",

language = "English",

volume = "17",

journal = "PLoS ONE",

issn = "1932-6203",

publisher = "PLoS",

number = "7",

}

Urhøj, S, Tan, J, Morris, J, Given, J, Astolfi, G, Baldacci, S, Barisic, I, Brigden, J, Clara, C-C, Evans, H, Gissler, M, Heino, A, Jordan, S, Lutke, R, Odak, L, Puccini, A, Santoro, M, Scanlon, I, de Walle, HEK, Wellesley, D, Zurriaga, O, Loane, M & Ester, G 2022, 'Hospital length of stay among children with and without congenital anomalies across 11 European regions—A population-based data linkage study', PLoS ONE, vol. 17, no. 7, e0269874. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0269874

TY - JOUR

T1 - Hospital length of stay among children with and without congenital anomalies across 11 European regions—A population-based data linkage study

AU - Urhøj, Stine

AU - Tan, Joachim

AU - Morris, Joan

AU - Given, Joanne

AU - Astolfi, Gianni

AU - Baldacci, Silvia

AU - Barisic, Ingeborg

AU - Brigden, Joanna

AU - Clara, Cavero-Carbonell

AU - Evans, Hannah

AU - Gissler, Mika

AU - Heino, Anna

AU - Jordan, Sue

AU - Lutke, Renée

AU - Odak, Ljubica

AU - Puccini, Aurora

AU - Santoro, Michele

AU - Scanlon, Ieuan

AU - de Walle, Hermien E.K.

AU - Wellesley, Diana

AU - Zurriaga, Oscar

AU - Loane, Maria

AU - Ester, Garne

N1 - Publisher Copyright: Copyright: © 2022 Urhoj et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

PY - 2022/7/22

Y1 - 2022/7/22

N2 - Background Congenital anomalies are a leading cause of childhood morbidity, but little is known about the long-term outcomes. Objective To quantify the burden of disease in childhood for children with congenital anomalies by assessing the risk of hospitalisation, the number of days spent in hospital and proportion of children with extended stays (≥10 days). Methods European population-based record-linkage study in 11 regions in eight countries including children with congenital anomalies (EUROCAT children) and without congenital anomalies (reference children) living in the same regions. The children were born between 1995 and 2014 and were followed to their tenth birthday or 31/12/2015. European meta-analyses of the outcome measures were performed by two age groups, <1 year and 1-4 years. Results 99,416 EUROCAT children and 2,021,772 reference children were linked to hospital databases. Among EUROCAT children, 85% (95%-CI: 79-90%) were hospitalised in the first year and 56% (95%-CI: 51-61%) at ages 1-4 years, compared to 31% (95%-CI: 26-37%) and 25% (95%-CI: 19-31%) of the reference children. Median length of stay was 2-3 times longer for EUROCAT children in both age groups. The percentages of children with extended stays (≥10 days) in the first year were 24% (95%-CI: 20-29%) for EUROCAT children and 1% (95%-CI: 1-2%) for reference children. The median length of stay varied greatly between congenital anomaly subgroups, with children with gastrointestinal anomalies and congenital heart defects having the longest stays. Conclusions Children with congenital anomalies were more frequently hospitalised and median length of stay was longer. The outlook improves after the first year. Parents of children with congenital anomalies should be informed about the increased hospitalisations required for their child's care and the impact on family life and siblings, and they should be adequately supported.

AB - Background Congenital anomalies are a leading cause of childhood morbidity, but little is known about the long-term outcomes. Objective To quantify the burden of disease in childhood for children with congenital anomalies by assessing the risk of hospitalisation, the number of days spent in hospital and proportion of children with extended stays (≥10 days). Methods European population-based record-linkage study in 11 regions in eight countries including children with congenital anomalies (EUROCAT children) and without congenital anomalies (reference children) living in the same regions. The children were born between 1995 and 2014 and were followed to their tenth birthday or 31/12/2015. European meta-analyses of the outcome measures were performed by two age groups, <1 year and 1-4 years. Results 99,416 EUROCAT children and 2,021,772 reference children were linked to hospital databases. Among EUROCAT children, 85% (95%-CI: 79-90%) were hospitalised in the first year and 56% (95%-CI: 51-61%) at ages 1-4 years, compared to 31% (95%-CI: 26-37%) and 25% (95%-CI: 19-31%) of the reference children. Median length of stay was 2-3 times longer for EUROCAT children in both age groups. The percentages of children with extended stays (≥10 days) in the first year were 24% (95%-CI: 20-29%) for EUROCAT children and 1% (95%-CI: 1-2%) for reference children. The median length of stay varied greatly between congenital anomaly subgroups, with children with gastrointestinal anomalies and congenital heart defects having the longest stays. Conclusions Children with congenital anomalies were more frequently hospitalised and median length of stay was longer. The outlook improves after the first year. Parents of children with congenital anomalies should be informed about the increased hospitalisations required for their child's care and the impact on family life and siblings, and they should be adequately supported.

KW - Medicine and health sciences

KW - Research and analysis methods

KW - Physical sciences

KW - People and places

KW - Length of Stay

KW - Prevalence

KW - Humans

KW - Information Storage and Retrieval

KW - Child, Preschool

KW - Infant

KW - Congenital Abnormalities/epidemiology

KW - Hospitals

KW - Heart Defects, Congenital

KW - Female

KW - Registries

KW - Child

KW - Congenital Abnormalities

UR - https://pure.ulster.ac.uk/en/publications/fb368ed9-644d-49fc-bbae-c0c16e9e955c

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85134825566&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0269874

DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0269874

M3 - Article

C2 - 35867669

SN - 1932-6203

VL - 17

JO - PLoS ONE

JF - PLoS ONE

IS - 7

M1 - e0269874

ER -

Hospital length of stay among children with and without congenital anomalies across 11 European regions—A population-based data linkage study

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Risk factors for hospital admission and length of stay in children under 5 years

Higher risk of cerebral palsy, seizures/epilepsy, visual- and hearing impairments, cancer, injury and child abuse in children with congenital anomalies – data from the EUROlinkCAT study

Cite this

Hospital length of stay among children with and without congenital anomalies across 11 European regions—A population-based data linkage study

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Activities

Risk factors for hospital admission and length of stay in children under 5 years

Research output

Higher risk of cerebral palsy, seizures/epilepsy, visual- and hearing impairments, cancer, injury and child abuse in children with congenital anomalies – data from the EUROlinkCAT study

Cite this