The Burden of Frequency of Hospitalization and Length of Hospital Stay by Children with Major Congenital Abnormalities That Require Surgical Treatment during the First Year of Life – a Case-control Study

Abstract

Objective − To determine how much children with “major” congenital abnormalities during the first year of life, compared to those without them, burden the health care system more in terms of length of stay and number of admissions and discharges.

Methods − The electronic records of 57 patients with major congenital abnormalities (study group) and 57 patients who were surgically treated for another condition in the first year of life (control group) were reviewed retrospectively.

Results − Children with congenital abnormalities were first hospitalized at the age of 1 (IQR=5) day, compared to 121 (IQR=278) days in children without congenital abnormalities (P<0.001). The total number of hospitalizations in the study group was 2.39±1.57, while in the control group, it was 1.14±0.35 (P<0.001). The length of stay in the hospital in children with congenital abnormalities was 48 (IQR=74) days, compared to the control group, which was 3 (IQR=15) days (P<0.001). The average length of stay in children with congenital abnormalities was 22.5 (IQR=29) days, while in the control group, it was 3 (IQR=11) days (P<0.001). The average share of the length of stay in the intensive care unit in relation to the total length of stay in the hospital for the group with congenital abnormalities was 46.6%, while for the control group, it was 23.3% (P<0.001).

Conclusion − Children with congenital abnormalities had a 4.9× overall longer length of hospital stay and a 3.1× longer length of stay in the intensive care unit.