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Trends in bronchiolitis hospitalizations in the United States, 2000-2009

Kohei Hasegawa1, Yusuke Tsugawa, David F M Brown

  • 1Department of Emergency Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. khasegawa1@partners.org

Pediatrics
|June 5, 2013
PubMed

Insights

Bronchiolitis hospitalizations in US children decreased 17% between 2000-2009. However, mechanical ventilation use and hospital charges for bronchiolitis significantly increased during this period.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Pulmonology
  • Health Services Research
  • Epidemiology

Background:

  • Bronchiolitis is a common viral respiratory infection in infants and young children.
  • Hospitalization rates and associated costs for bronchiolitis have been a growing concern.
  • Understanding temporal trends is crucial for resource allocation and public health strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To analyze trends in national bronchiolitis hospitalizations among US children under 2 years old.
  • To evaluate changes in the utilization of mechanical ventilation for bronchiolitis cases.
  • To assess the temporal trends in hospital charges associated with bronchiolitis from 2000 to 2009.

Main Methods:

  • A serial, cross-sectional analysis using the Kids Inpatient Database (KID).
  • Identification of bronchiolitis cases using ICD-9-CM code 466.1 for children <2 years.
  • Evaluation of temporal trends in hospitalization incidence, mechanical ventilation use, and hospital charges, accounting for sampling weights.

Main Results:

  • Bronchiolitis hospitalization incidence decreased by 17% (17.9 to 14.9 per 1000 person-years) between 2000 and 2009.
  • There was a significant increase in the proportion of hospitalized children with high-risk conditions (34%) and mechanical ventilation use (21%).
  • Nationwide hospital charges for bronchiolitis rose by 30% ($1.34 billion to $1.73 billion), with a 34% increase in mean charges per case.

Conclusions:

  • A significant decline in bronchiolitis hospitalizations was observed in US children from 2000 to 2009.
  • Despite decreased hospitalizations, mechanical ventilation use and hospital charges for bronchiolitis substantially increased during the same period.
  • These findings highlight evolving treatment patterns and escalating healthcare costs for pediatric bronchiolitis.
Abstract

Keywords:
bronchiolitishospital chargehospitalizationincidencemortalitytrends

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