Pediatric Feeding Disorder: A Nationwide Prevalence Study

Area of Science:

• Pediatrics
• Public Health
• Epidemiology

Background:

• Pediatric Feeding Disorder (PFD) is a complex condition affecting children's nutrition and development.
• Understanding the prevalence of PFD is crucial for resource allocation and early intervention strategies.
• Existing data on PFD prevalence in the United States is limited, particularly across different insurance types.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the prevalence of Pediatric Feeding Disorder (PFD) in children aged five years or younger in the US.
• To analyze PFD prevalence trends across different insurance cohorts (public vs. private).
• To compare PFD prevalence with other common childhood diagnoses.

Main Methods:

• A retrospective cohort study utilizing Medicaid databases (Arizona, Wisconsin) and the Truven Health MarketScan database (private insurance).
• International Classification of Diseases (ICD) and Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes were used to identify PFD diagnoses.
• Children were classified with PFD if they had a PFD diagnosis and no eating disorder diagnosis within a calendar year.

Main Results:

• Over 126,000 publicly insured and 367,000 privately insured children (≤5 years) were identified with PFD.
• PFD prevalence per 1000 child-years was 32.91 (public, AZ), 34.73 (public, WI), and 21.07 (private).
• A significant increasing linear trend in PFD prevalence was observed in both public and private insurance cohorts between 2005-2015.

Conclusions:

• The prevalence of Pediatric Feeding Disorder in the US is substantial, rivaling that of conditions like autism spectrum disorder.
• PFD prevalence is increasing among young children in the US across both public and private insurance types.
• These findings highlight the growing public health burden of PFD and the need for further research and clinical attention.