Health care use after severe respiratory tract infections in children aged 0 to 5 years
(2023) In Scandinavian Journal of Public Health- Abstract
Aim: To explore whether children in specialist care with COVID-19 have increased post-discharge health care use when compared with children in specialist care with 1) respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection, and 2) other respiratory tract infections (RTIs). Methods: In 34,214 children aged 1 month to 5 years who were registered as having one or more hospital visit (outpatient or inpatient) with a diagnosis of COVID-19 (N = 128), RSV infection (N = 4,009), or other RTIs (N = 34,458) from 2017 to 2021, we used a difference-in-differences study design to investigate individual all-cause primary and specialist health care use from 12 weeks prior to 12 weeks after the hospital visit, stratified by infants (1 to 11 months) and children (1... (More)
Aim: To explore whether children in specialist care with COVID-19 have increased post-discharge health care use when compared with children in specialist care with 1) respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection, and 2) other respiratory tract infections (RTIs). Methods: In 34,214 children aged 1 month to 5 years who were registered as having one or more hospital visit (outpatient or inpatient) with a diagnosis of COVID-19 (N = 128), RSV infection (N = 4,009), or other RTIs (N = 34,458) from 2017 to 2021, we used a difference-in-differences study design to investigate individual all-cause primary and specialist health care use from 12 weeks prior to 12 weeks after the hospital visit, stratified by infants (1 to 11 months) and children (1 to 5 years). Results: We found a slight increase in primary health care use in the first 4 weeks after the hospital visit for infants with COVID-19 when compared with infants with RSV infection (6 per 10,000; 95% CI [2, 13], a 0.52% relative increase). For infants diagnosed with COVID-19, we found a similar post-visit increase in inpatients when compared with infants with RSV infection, which lasted for 12 weeks. Conclusions: Our findings imply a slightly increased health care use among infants after a hospital visit for COVID-19 than among infants with other RTIs, the potential etiological mechanisms of which deserve future clinical research. Severe COVID-19 in young children will not represent any markedly increased burden on the health services.
(Less)
- author
- Larsen, Vilde Bergstad ; Størdal, Ketil ; Telle, Kjetil ; Methi, Fredrik and Magnusson, Karin LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2023
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- epub
- subject
- keywords
- COVID-19, primary health care use, respiratory syncytial virus, respiratory tract infection, specialist health care use
- in
- Scandinavian Journal of Public Health
- publisher
- SAGE Publications
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:37698056
- scopus:85170854524
- ISSN
- 1403-4948
- DOI
- 10.1177/14034948231197250
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- dd98e444-88a6-46fd-88ae-c7797f61c1fd
- date added to LUP
- 2023-12-28 09:36:22
- date last changed
- 2024-04-12 14:35:08
@article{dd98e444-88a6-46fd-88ae-c7797f61c1fd,
abstract = {{<p>Aim: To explore whether children in specialist care with COVID-19 have increased post-discharge health care use when compared with children in specialist care with 1) respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection, and 2) other respiratory tract infections (RTIs). Methods: In 34,214 children aged 1 month to 5 years who were registered as having one or more hospital visit (outpatient or inpatient) with a diagnosis of COVID-19 (N = 128), RSV infection (N = 4,009), or other RTIs (N = 34,458) from 2017 to 2021, we used a difference-in-differences study design to investigate individual all-cause primary and specialist health care use from 12 weeks prior to 12 weeks after the hospital visit, stratified by infants (1 to 11 months) and children (1 to 5 years). Results: We found a slight increase in primary health care use in the first 4 weeks after the hospital visit for infants with COVID-19 when compared with infants with RSV infection (6 per 10,000; 95% CI [2, 13], a 0.52% relative increase). For infants diagnosed with COVID-19, we found a similar post-visit increase in inpatients when compared with infants with RSV infection, which lasted for 12 weeks. Conclusions: Our findings imply a slightly increased health care use among infants after a hospital visit for COVID-19 than among infants with other RTIs, the potential etiological mechanisms of which deserve future clinical research. Severe COVID-19 in young children will not represent any markedly increased burden on the health services.</p>}},
author = {{Larsen, Vilde Bergstad and Størdal, Ketil and Telle, Kjetil and Methi, Fredrik and Magnusson, Karin}},
issn = {{1403-4948}},
keywords = {{COVID-19; primary health care use; respiratory syncytial virus; respiratory tract infection; specialist health care use}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{SAGE Publications}},
series = {{Scandinavian Journal of Public Health}},
title = {{Health care use after severe respiratory tract infections in children aged 0 to 5 years}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/14034948231197250}},
doi = {{10.1177/14034948231197250}},
year = {{2023}},
}