Hospital admissions and surgical treatment of children with lower-limb deficiency in Finland
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J Syvänen1, I Helenius1, E Koskimies-Virta2
1Department of Paediatric Orthopaedic Surgery, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland.
Insights
Children with lower-limb deficiencies require significantly more hospital care and orthopedic surgeries than the general pediatric population. This highlights a substantial burden on healthcare systems and families, particularly for severe limb deficiencies.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Orthopedics
- Public Health
- Congenital Malformations
Background:
- Limited population-based data exists on healthcare utilization for congenital lower-limb deficiencies.
- Understanding the healthcare burden is crucial for resource allocation and patient support.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the impact of congenital lower-limb deficiencies on national hospital healthcare systems.
- To quantify hospital admissions and surgical treatment needs in affected children.
Main Methods:
- Population-based study utilizing national registers of congenital malformations and healthcare data.
- Inclusion of all live births with lower-limb deficiency between 1993-2008.
- Comparison of healthcare data with the general pediatric population (0.9 million).
Main Results:
- Children with lower-limb deficiencies had higher annual hospital admissions (0.4-1.5) and inpatient care days (1.9-5.6) compared to the general pediatric population (0.10 admissions, 0.3 days).
- Orthopedic surgery was performed in a significant proportion of cases, ranging from 25% for toe deficiencies to 72% for terminal amputations.
- Congenital lower-limb deficiencies accounted for 54% of all orthopedic procedures studied.
Conclusions:
- Congenital lower-limb deficiencies necessitate multiple-fold hospital care and orthopedic procedures compared to the general pediatric population.
- The healthcare burden is significantly elevated for patients with terminal amputations and long-bone deficiencies.
- These findings underscore the substantial impact on patients, families, and healthcare systems.
Background And Aims:
There are no population-based studies about hospital admissions and need for surgical treatment of congenital lower-limb deficiencies. The aim is to assess the impact children with lower-limb deficiencies pose to national hospital level health-care system.
Materials And Methods:
A population-based study was conducted using the national Register of Congenital Malformations and Care Register for Health Care. All 185 live births with lower-limb deficiency (1993-2008) were included. Data on hospital care were collected until 31 December 2009 and compared to data on the whole pediatric population (0.9 million) live born in 1993-2008.
Results:
The whole pediatric population had annually on average 0.10 hospital admissions and the mean length of in-patient care of 0.3 days per child. The respective figures were 1.5 and 5.6 in terminal lower-limb amputations (n = 7), 1.1 and 3.9 in long-bone deficiencies (n = 53), 0.6 and 1.9 in foot deficiencies (n = 26) and 0.4 and 2.6 in toe deficiencies (n = 101). Orthopedic surgery was performed in 72% (5/7) of patients with terminal amputations, in 62% (33/53) of patients with long bone, in 58% (14/24) of patients with foot and in 25% (25/101) of patients in toe deficiencies. Half (54%) of all procedures were orthopedic operations.
Conclusion:
In congenital lower-limb deficiencies the need of hospital care and the number of orthopedic procedures is multiple-fold compared to whole pediatric population. The burden to the patient and to the families is markedly increased, especially in children with terminal amputations and long-bone deficiencies of lower limbs.
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