UNSPECIFIED. (1993) DIAGNOSTIC AND SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES IN MULTIPLE HOSPITAL ADMISSION IN CHILDREN UNDER 2 OVER A 5-YEAR PERIOD. JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH MEDICINE, 15 (4). pp. 332-336. ISSN 0957-4832

Abstract

Diagnostic and socio-demographic changes for children experiencing multiple hospital admissions (three or more) before the age of two years in two whole-year birth cohorts five years apart - 1980 and 1985 - are reported. The increase in multiple admissions between 1980 and 1985 was distributed evenly throughout the diagnostic groups. Although a disproportionate increase in admissions per child for asthma was noted, the results suggest that the increase accounts for only a small proportion of the total increase. A marked trend to earlier age of first admission is reported. Low-birthweight infants, infants of young mothers and infants from deprived areas of the city are over-represented in the multiple admission groups in both cohorts. There was a marked increase in the proportion of low-birthweight infants in the multiple admissions group between 1 980 and 1 985 compared with a decrease in the percentage of low-birthweight infants in the control group over the same period. The study results are discussed with particular reference to the unexplained increase in early childhood admissions.

Data sourced from Thomson Reuters' Web of Knowledge

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