Preadmission Diet and Zip Code Influences the Pediatric Critical Care Clinical Course for Infants with Severe...

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Critical Care Medicine
• Neonatal Nutrition
• Public Health

Background:

• Infant diet (breastfeeding vs. formula feeding) may influence health outcomes.
• Socioeconomic factors and geographic location (zip code) can impact access to healthcare and health status in infants.
• Severe respiratory illness in infants admitted to a pediatric critical care unit requires understanding of associated risk factors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between preadmission infant diet (formula, breastfed, mixed) and socioeconomic factors (zip code, insurance type) in infants with severe respiratory illness.
• To determine if diet influences medication use (ranitidine) upon admission to a pediatric critical care unit.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective chart review of 187 infants aged 0-5 months admitted to Helen DeVos Children's Hospital between January 2011 and May 2017.
• Categorization of infant diet into exclusively formula, exclusively breastfed, or mixed.
• Analysis of patient zip codes, payer type (public insurance), and prescribed ranitidine.

Main Results:

• Formula-fed infants (47%) were associated with zip codes of lower median income.
• Formula-fed infants were more likely to have public insurance as their payer type.
• Formula-fed infants received more ranitidine prescriptions on admission compared to other diet groups.

Conclusions:

• Preadmission diet, specifically formula feeding, is linked to socioeconomic factors in infants with severe respiratory illness.
• Formula feeding in this population is associated with public insurance and increased ranitidine use.
• Further research is needed to explore the implications of these associations on infant health outcomes and healthcare utilization.