TY - JOUR
T1 - Patterns, trends, and factors influencing hospitalizations for craniosynostosis in Western Australia. A population-based study
AU - Junaid, Mohammed
AU - Slack-Smith, Linda
AU - Wong, Kingsley
AU - Hewitt, Timothy
AU - Bourke, Jenny
AU - Baynam, Gareth
AU - Calache, Hanny
AU - Leonard, Helen
N1 - Funding Information:
Open Access funding enabled and organized by CAUL and its Member Institutions. Mohammed Junaid is being supported by the Australian Government International Research Training Program Scholarship and the Stan and Jean Perron Top-Up Scholarship.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).
PY - 2023/5
Y1 - 2023/5
N2 - Understanding hospital service use among children with a diagnosis of craniosynostosis (CS) is important to improve services and outcomes. This study aimed to describe population-level trends, patterns, and factors influencing hospitalizations for craniosynostosis in Western Australia. Data on live births (1990–2010; n = 554,624) including craniosynostosis, episodes of death, demographic, and perinatal factors were identified from the midwives, birth defects, hospitalizations, and death datasets. Information on craniosynostosis and non-craniosynostosis-related admissions, cumulative length of hospital stay (cLoS), intensive care unit, and emergency department–related admissions were extracted from the hospitalization dataset and linked to other data sources. These associations were examined using negative binomial regression presented as annual percent change and associations of hospitalizations by age groups, demographic, and perinatal factors were expressed as incidence rate ratio (IRR). We found an increasing trend in incident hospitalizations but a marginal decline in cLoS for craniosynostosis over the observed study period. Perinatal conditions, feeding difficulties, nervous system anomalies, respiratory, and other infections contributed to majority of infant non-CS-related admissions.Respiratory infections accounted for about twice the number of admissions for individuals with CS (IRRs 1.94–2.34) across all observed age groups. Higher incidence of non-CS hospitalizations was observed among females, with associated anomalies, to families with highest socioeconomic disadvantage and living in remote areas of the state. Conclusion: Marginal reduction in the cLoS for CS-related admissions observed over the 21-year period are potentially indicative of improved peri-operative care. However, higher incidence of respiratory infection-related admissions for syndromic synostosis is concerning and requires investigation.
AB - Understanding hospital service use among children with a diagnosis of craniosynostosis (CS) is important to improve services and outcomes. This study aimed to describe population-level trends, patterns, and factors influencing hospitalizations for craniosynostosis in Western Australia. Data on live births (1990–2010; n = 554,624) including craniosynostosis, episodes of death, demographic, and perinatal factors were identified from the midwives, birth defects, hospitalizations, and death datasets. Information on craniosynostosis and non-craniosynostosis-related admissions, cumulative length of hospital stay (cLoS), intensive care unit, and emergency department–related admissions were extracted from the hospitalization dataset and linked to other data sources. These associations were examined using negative binomial regression presented as annual percent change and associations of hospitalizations by age groups, demographic, and perinatal factors were expressed as incidence rate ratio (IRR). We found an increasing trend in incident hospitalizations but a marginal decline in cLoS for craniosynostosis over the observed study period. Perinatal conditions, feeding difficulties, nervous system anomalies, respiratory, and other infections contributed to majority of infant non-CS-related admissions.Respiratory infections accounted for about twice the number of admissions for individuals with CS (IRRs 1.94–2.34) across all observed age groups. Higher incidence of non-CS hospitalizations was observed among females, with associated anomalies, to families with highest socioeconomic disadvantage and living in remote areas of the state. Conclusion: Marginal reduction in the cLoS for CS-related admissions observed over the 21-year period are potentially indicative of improved peri-operative care. However, higher incidence of respiratory infection-related admissions for syndromic synostosis is concerning and requires investigation.
KW - Craniosynostosis
KW - Hospital admissions
KW - Linked data study
KW - Longitudinal study
KW - Rare diseases
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85149776511&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s00431-023-04922-4
DO - 10.1007/s00431-023-04922-4
M3 - Article
C2 - 36899143
SN - 0340-6199
VL - 182
SP - 2379
EP - 2392
JO - European Journal of Pediatrics
JF - European Journal of Pediatrics
IS - 5
ER -