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Hospitalisations for sickle‐cell disease in an A ustralian paediatric population
Author(s) -
Teoh Yvonne,
Greenway Anthea,
Savoia Helen,
Monagle Paul,
Roy John,
Barnes Chris
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of paediatrics and child health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.631
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1440-1754
pISSN - 1034-4810
DOI - 10.1111/jpc.12018
Subject(s) - medicine , disease , pediatrics , population , emergency department , acute chest syndrome , sickle cell anemia , emergency medicine , environmental health , psychiatry
Aim Sickle‐cell disease ( SCD ) is more prevalent in A ustralia due to increased migration; however, the A ustralian paediatric SCD population has not been previously described. This study aimed to identify the demographic features of and quantify the hospital resource utilisation in the SCD population at The R oyal C hildren's H ospital in V ictoria. Methods This was a retrospective chart review of SCD patients who presented to the R oyal C hildren's H ospital over a 10.5‐year period. Descriptive analyses were conducted. Results Thirty‐seven SCD patients aged from 0.2 to 18.0 years (mean: 8.5 ± 4.8 years) had 535 admissions over the 10.5‐year period. The population was made up of 28 homozygous sickle‐cell disease, 1 sickle C disease and 8 sickle‐cell beta patients from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. Admissions included 264 unplanned admissions, that is 258 admissions via the emergency department and 6 admissions via outpatients, and 271 planned admissions. Mean length of stay for unplanned admissions was 3.2 ± 2.6 days. Common diagnoses for unplanned admissions were 187 vaso‐occlusive crisis (70.8%), 32 infections (12.1%) and 26 anaemic episodes (9.8%). Transfusion therapy (91.9%) accounted for the majority of planned admissions. Conclusions Children with sickle‐cell disease in an A ustralian setting require hospitalisation for various reasons related to disease, either unexpected complications or elective procedures. Factors affecting the provision of optimal healthcare to be explored include the multicultural demographics of the SCD population, the timely management of vaso‐occlusive crises and the availability of SCD ‐related protocols.