Temporal trend in paediatric infections in Denmark

Mads Kamper-Jørgensen ^1*, Jan Wohlfahrt ¹, Jacob Simonsen ¹, Nana Thrane ² and Christine Stabell Benn ¹

¹ Statens Serum Institut, Denmark
² Herning Central Hospital, Denmark

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: mka{at}ssi.dk.

Accepted 30 January 2006

Abstract

Aim: To study temporal trends in the incidence of hospitalisations due to infections in children in Denmark.

Design and methods: A national register-based cohort of 1,892,711 Danish children aged 0 to 5 years were studied in the period from 1980 to 2001. Child and family characteristics were identified in the Danish Civil Registration System, whereas hospitalisations were identified in the Danish National Patient Registry. Annual incidence rates were estimated using log-linear Poisson regression.

Results: During the studied period, the incidence of hospitalisations from infections increased by 62 percent in 0 to 5-year-old children. The increase was mainly due to a seven-fold in-crease in the incidence of infections leading to short-term hospitalisation in children aged 0 to 1 years. Since the increase in incidence was contrasted with a decrease in duration of hospitalisation, no further strain was put on the health services in Denmark.

Conclusion: During the last two decades, the incidence of short-term hospitalisations due to infections increased markedly among the youngest children. However, the strain on the health ser-vices remained constant. The observed increase in the incidence of short-term hospitali- sations among the youngest children may reflect changes in hospitalisation practices and utilisation, rather than an increase in incidence of infections.

Keywords: epidemiology, gastrointestinal, incidence, infection, respiration

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