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

Joan K Morris, Maria Loane*, Charlotte Wahlich, Joachim Tan, Silvia Baldacci, Elisa Ballardini, Clara Cavero-Carbonell, Mads Damkjær, Laura García-Villodre, Mika Gissler, Joanne Given, Francesca Gorini, Anna Heino, Elizabeth Limb, Renee Lutke, Amanda Neville, Anke Rissmann, Leuan Scanlon, David F Tucker, Stine Kjaer UrhojHermien E K de Walle, Ester Garne

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

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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 OUTCOME MEASURES: 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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)402-408
Number of pages7
JournalArchives of disease in childhood
Volume109
Issue number5
Early online date19-Feb-2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 18-Apr-2024

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