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Pediatric chronic patients at outpatient clinics: a study in a Latin American University Hospital Please cite this article as: Alveno RA, Miranda CV, Passone CG, Waetge AR, Hojo ES, Farhat SC, et al. Pediatric chronic patients at outpatient clinics: a study in a Latin American University Hospital. J Pediatr (Rio J). 2018;94:539-45.

Abstract

Objective:

To describe the characteristics of children and adolescentes with chronic diseases of outpatient clinics at a tertiary university hospital.

Methods:

A cross-sectional study was performed with 16,237 patients with chronic diseases followed-up in one year. The data were collected through the electronic system, according to the number of physician appointments in 23 pediatric specialties. Patients were divided in two groups: children (0-9 years) and adolescents (10-19 years). Early (10-14 years) and late (15-19 years) adolescent groups were also analyzed.

Results:

Of the total sample, 56% were children and 46% were adolescents. The frequencies of following pediatric specialties were significantly higher in adolescents when compared with children: cardiology, endocrinology, hematology, nephrology/renal transplantation, neurology, nutrology, oncology, palliative and pain care, psychiatry, and rheumatology (p < 0.05). The frequencies of emergency service visits (30% vs. 17%, p < 0.001), hospitalizations (23% vs. 11%, p < 0.001), intensive care unit admissions (6% vs. 2%, p < 0.001), and deaths (1% vs. 0.6%, p = 0.002) were significantly lower in adolescents than in children. However, the number of physician appointments (≥13) per patient was also higher in the adolescent group (5% vs. 6%, p = 0.018). Further analysis comparison between early and late adolescents revealed that the first group had significantly more physician appointments (35% vs. 32%, p = 0.025), and required more than two pediatric specialties (22% vs. 21%, p = 0.047). Likewise, the frequencies of emergency service visits (19% vs. 14%, p < 0.001) and hospitalizations (12% vs. 10%, p = 0.035) were higher in early adolescents.

Conclusions:

This study evaluated a large population in a Latin American hospital and suggested that early adolescents with chronic diseases required many appointments, multiple specialties and hospital admissions.

KEYWORDS
Adolescents; Chronic diseases; Emergency department; Hospitalization

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