Admission to hospital for bronchiolitis in England: trends over five decades, geographical variation and association with perinatal characteristics and subsequent asthma

• Published in: Archives of disease in childhood 2016-02, Vol.101 (2), p.140-146
• Main Authors: Green, Christopher A, Yeates, David, Goldacre, Allie, Sande, Charles, Parslow, Roger C, McShane, Philip, Pollard, Andrew J, Goldacre, Michael J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Admission and discharge; Adolescent; Adult; Analysis; Asthma; Asthma - epidemiology; Asthma - etiology; Asthma in children; Attrition (Research Studies); Birth Weight; Bronchiolitis; Bronchiolitis - complications; Bronchiolitis - epidemiology; Bronchiolitis - therapy; Bronchitis; Cerebral Palsy; Child, Preschool; Childhood asthma; Company business management; Down Syndrome; England - epidemiology; Hospital admission and discharge; Hospitalization - statistics & numerical data; Hospitalization - trends; Hospitals; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Infants; Infections; Intensive care; Intensive Care Units, Pediatric - statistics & numerical data; Intensive Care Units, Pediatric - trends; Linked Data; Local government; Management; Maternal Age; Medical Record Linkage; Methods; Mortality; Original; Patient Admission - statistics & numerical data; Patient Admission - trends; Patient admissions; Pediatric intensive care units; Physicians; Place of Residence; Population; Respiratory syncytial virus; Risk Factors; Smoking - adverse effects; Smoking - epidemiology; Social Class; Trend Analysis; Trends; Ventilation; Young Adult; Young Children
• ISSN: 0003-9888; 1468-2044
• DOI: 10.1136/archdischild-2015-308723

BackgroundAdmission of infants to hospital with bronchiolitis consumes considerable healthcare resources each winter. We report an analysis of hospital admissions in England over five decades.MethodsData were analysed from the Hospital In-Patient Enquiry (HIPE, 1968–1985), Hospital Episode Statistics (HES, 1989–2011), Oxford Record Linkage Study (ORLS, 1963–2011) and Paediatric Intensive Care Audit Network (PICANet, 2003–2012). Cases were identified using International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes in discharge records. Bronchiolitis was given a separate code in ICD9 (used in England from 1979). Geographical variation was analysed using Local Authority area boundaries. Maternal and perinatal risk factors associated with bronchiolitis and subsequent admissions for asthma were analysed using record-linkage.ResultsAll-England HIPE and HES data recorded 468 138 episodes of admission for bronchiolitis in infants aged