Trends in Hospital Resource Use for Children With Complex Chronic Conditions

Despite a small prevalence, children with complex chronic conditions (CCCs) use substantial inpatient resources.

To assess national trends in hospital discharges, bed days, and hospital charges for children with and without CCCs in the US from 2000 to 2022.

This retrospective, repeated cross-sectional study used hospital discharge data from the Kids' Inpatient Database (KID) from the years 2000, 2003, 2006, 2009, 2012, 2016, 2019, and 2022 for US children aged 0 to 18 years, excluding uncomplicated newborn discharges.

Presence of 0, 1, 2, or 3 or more CCCs.

Trends in the hospital discharge rate per 100 000 children and percentage of total hospital discharges, bed days, and charges attributable to children with CCCs, identified with International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification and International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision, Clinical Modification codes using Feudtner's diagnosis code classification system, version 3. Survey weights were applied to estimate hospital discharges, bed days, and charges. Sociodemographic (eg, primary payer) and clinical (eg, technology dependence, mental health comorbidity) characteristics for each hospital discharge were also assessed.

Across all years, there were an estimated 26 342 497 hospital discharges, of which 54.1% (95% CI, 54.0%-54.2%) were among males and 55.4% (95% CI, 54.4%-55.8%) were for infants. From 2000 to 2022, the discharge rate per 100 000 US children increased by 24.3% (95% CI, 22.7%-26.3%), from 779 to 968, for children with 1 or more CCCs and decreased by 9.7% (95% CI, 9.4%-10.0%), from 3831 to 3459, for children with no CCCs. From 2000 to 2022, the percentage change in the hospital discharge rate varied by number of CCCs: a 3.8% (95% CI, 0.9%-6.0%) decrease was found for 1 CCC, a 60.9% (95% CI, 57.7%-65.5%) increase for 2 CCCs, and a 340.0% (95% CI, 332.6%-351.1%) increase for 3 or more CCCs. In 2000 and 2022, children with 1 or more CCCs accounted for 16.9% (95% CI, 15.7%-17.9%) and 21.9% (95% CI, 20.7%-22.9%) of hospital discharges, 32.0% (95% CI, 30.8%-33.1%) and 44.1% (95% CI, 42.6%-45.4%) of bed days, and 44.2% (95% CI, 42.6%-45.5%) and 59.5% (95% CI, 57.8%-60.9%) of hospital charges, respectively. From 2000 to 2022, the percentage of hospital discharges in children with 1 or more CCCs increased with gastroenterologic technology dependence (7.0% [95% CI, 6.0%-8.0%] to 14.4% [95% CI, 12.4%-16.4%]), neurodevelopmental or neurocognitive disorders (5.7% [95% CI, 4.8%-6.5%] to 13.5% [95% CI, 11.7%-15.2%]), and public insurance (40.9% [95% CI, 38.8%-42.9%] to 52.1% [95% CI, 50.2%-54.1%]).

In this national, repeated cross-sectional study, the hospital discharge rate and the percentage of hospital resource use attributable to children with CCCs increased from 2000 to 2022, and these trends were mainly attributable to children with multiple CCCs. It is critical that health systems are equipped with the resources, staff, and payments to sustainably meet the increasing needs for inpatient care among children with CCCs.