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Characteristics of children requiring admission to neonatal care and paediatric intensive care before the age of 2 years in England and Wales: A data linkage study

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Alan Fenton

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Abstract

© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Objective: To quantify the characteristics of children admitted to neonatal units (NNUs) and paediatric intensive care units (PICUs) before the age of 2 years. Design: A data linkage study of routinely collected data. Setting: National Health Service NNUs and PICUs in England and Wales Patients: Children born from 2013 to 2018. Interventions: None. Main outcome measure: Admission to PICU before the age of 2 years. Results: A total of 384 747 babies were admitted to an NNU and 4.8% (n=18 343) were also admitted to PICU before the age of 2 years. Approximately half of all children admitted to PICU under the age of 2 years born in the same time window (n=18 343/37 549) had previously been cared for in an NNU. The main reasons for first admission to PICU were cardiac (n=7138) and respiratory conditions (n=5386). Cardiac admissions were primarily from children born at term (n=5146), while respiratory admissions were primarily from children born preterm (<37 weeks' gestational age, n=3550). A third of children admitted to PICU had more than one admission. Conclusions: Healthcare professionals caring for babies and children in NNU and PICU see some of the same children in the first 2 years of life. While some children are following established care pathways (eg, staged cardiac surgery), the small proportion of children needing NNU care subsequently requiring PICU care account for a large proportion of the total PICU population. These differences may affect perceptions of risk for this group of children between NNU and PICU teams.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Seaton SE, Battersby C, Davis PJ, Fenton AC, Anderson J, Van Hasselt TJ, Draper E

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Archives of Disease in Childhood

Year: 2024

Volume: 109

Issue: 5

Pages: 387-394

Online publication date: 12/02/2024

Acceptance date: 13/01/2024

Date deposited: 05/03/2024

ISSN (print): 0003-9888

ISSN (electronic): 1468-2044

Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group

URL: https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2023-325986

DOI: 10.1136/archdischild-2023-325986

Data Access Statement: Data may be obtained from a third party and are not publicly available. Data may be obtained from a third party and are not publicly available. PICANet data may be requested from the data controller, the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP). A Data Access Request Form can be obtained from https://www.hqip.org.uk/national-programmes/accessing-ncapop-data/%23.XQeml_lKhjU

PubMed id: 38346868

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