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[Chronic diseases in childhood: an approximate measurement of their impact]
N A Vargas1, A Vadell, A Silva
1Departamento de Salud Pública, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile.
Insights
A study in Santiago, Chile found that 23.3% of hospitalized children had confirmed chronic diseases (CCD). Neurologic, oncohematologic, and gastrointestinal systems were most frequently affected in pediatric chronic illness.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Medicine
- Epidemiology
- Public Health
Context:
- Assessing the burden of chronic diseases in childhood is crucial for public health planning.
- Hospitalized pediatric populations represent a significant demographic for studying disease prevalence.
- Santiago, Chile, provides a specific metropolitan context for this investigation.
Purpose:
- To determine the type and frequency of diagnoses among children admitted to pediatric wards.
- To measure the prevalence of chronic diseases in hospitalized children.
- To identify the most commonly affected organ systems in pediatric chronic conditions.
Summary:
- A review of 426 pediatric hospital admissions (excluding newborns) in Santiago, Chile, from March to June 1989 was conducted.
- 23.3% of children were diagnosed with definitive, confirmed chronic diseases (CCD), and 12% with possibly chronic diseases (PCD).
- Neurologic (31 cases), oncohematologic (28 cases), and gastrointestinal (26 cases) systems were the most frequently impacted in CCD patients.
Impact:
- Highlights the significant prevalence of chronic diseases in hospitalized children in a metropolitan Chilean setting.
- Identifies key organ systems disproportionately affected by chronic conditions in pediatric populations.
- Underscores the need for further research across diverse healthcare settings to fully ascertain the scope of childhood chronic diseases in Chile.
Abstract:
As an approach to measurement of the importance of chronic diseases in childhood, type and frequency of diagnoses in children admitted to the pediatric wards of a general metropolitan hospital at Santiago, Chile, were reviewed and recorded along hospitalization and at the time of discharge from March 1 through June 30, 1989 (n: 426). Newborns were excluded. Main problems of the study were lacks of uniform national criteria to define chronic illness and of modern technology to certify diagnoses. Ninety five hospital discharged children (23.3%) were considered to have a definitive, confirmed chronic disease (CCD), other 51 (12%) were cases of possibly chronic disease (PCD) while the remainder were thought to be carriers of acute illness. Among 146 patients taken as CCD or PCD cases, 126 (87.7%) were considered to have single organic system diseases as defined by areas of medical interest or specialty; other 3 cases (8.9%) had two affected systems and 5 children (3.4%) had three or more involved systems. More frequently affected systems (in number of cases) and their corresponding proportions of CCD were as follows: neurologic (31 cases and 58.1% CCD), oncohematologic (28 cases and 96.4% CCD) and gastrointestinal (26 cases and 26.9% CCD). More extensive studies, covering other medical care providing settings are desirable and necessary to measure the magnitude and features of chronic disease entities in chilean childhood.