Nature and severity of acute medical pediatric admissions in one year

Abstract EN

Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate the nature and the severity of acute pediatric medical illnesses admitted to the general pediatric ward.

Design: A Retrospective Study.

Setting: Pediatric Department, King Hamad University Hospital, Bahrain.

Method: The discharged diagnoses of all acute medical pediatric admissions to the pediatric ward from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2015 were reviewed.

The following were documented: age, nationality, diagnosis, infective agent where possible, and the duration of admission.

A retrospective diagnosis of probable pneumonia was made; on the finding of a definite patch of consolidation on chest x-ray.

Result: The number of children who attended the ED department from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2015 was 11,512; 1,153 (10%) were admitted.

Of those admitted, 838 were medical admissions, of whom 453 (54%) were of Bahrain nationality.

The mean age of the children was 2.8 years, ranging from 1 day to 14 years.

The average length of stay (LOS) was 3.9 days.

Ninety (10.8%) admissions were documented to affect the upper respiratory tract; 52 (6.2%) were upper respiratory tract infections, 29 (3.5%) were tonsillitis and nine (1.07%) were croup.

Ninety (10.8%) gastrointestinal conditions were admitted.

Eighty-eight (10.5%) of the admitted cases were seizures.

Five hundred seventy (68%) cases were diagnosed with infection; of which, 86 (15%) were classified as serious, consisted of pneumonia, urinary tract infection (UTI), and bacteremia.

Ninety-one (10.9%) children (mean age 2.6 months, range 1 month-13 years) required admission to HDU/ITU.

Conclusion: Viral like infections was a common cause of admission.

We found a large number of children with pneumonia, especially during the winter months.

The study gives insight into the acute challenges pediatric trainees face as front-line clinicians in their care for children with acute pediatric conditions.