Paediatric Patients With Multiple Referrals and Complex Health Complaints Experienced Notable Functional Impairment

Managing patients with complex health complaints is challenging, because cumulative functional impairment may be overlooked when such complaints are considered individually. This Norwegian study examined functional impairment in paediatric patients with complex somatic and mental health complaints.

Data for this open-label trial were collected from 1 January 2020 to 1 July 2023, before an interdisciplinary intervention for paediatric patients aged 6-16 years with multiple referrals to Haukeland University Hospital. Patients were recruited from the paediatric neurology and gastroenterology departments, and the parents completed the KIDSCREEN-27 tool on health-related quality of life and a questionnaire on school absences.

The 71 patients (51% boys) had a mean age of 12 years. Their parents reported that the patients had significantly lower health-related quality of life than norms for the general European population. School absences were high, with 52% of children missing school weekly. Lower health-related quality of life scores were linked to increased school absences, while increased age was associated with reduced school environment scores.

Paediatric patients with multiple referrals and complex health complaints experienced notable functional impairment. These patients should be offered holistic assessments of both their complaints and their functional impairment.