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Affiliation
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From the Florida Atlantic Univeristy (A.T.), Boca Raton, Florida; Division of Critical Care Medicine (M.L., F.B., K.M., A.R., and B.R.T.), Nicklaus Children's Hospital, Miami, Florida; and the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine (M.L., K.M., A.R., and B.R.T.), Florida International University, Miami, Florida. |
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Abstract
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BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to explore the epidemiology and outcomes of hospitalized children with a diagnosis of accidental hypothermia.
METHODS: The 2012 Kids' Inpatient Database, detailing discharge diagnoses in children admitted to US hospitals, was analyzed using ICD-9-DM codes to filter out relevant patients. Children ages 1 month to 17 years were included in the analysis. Demographic and outcome variables in the hypothermia group were compared with the rest of the patients. In a separate analysis, children with hypothermia were matched 1:1 using a correlative propensity score utilizing gender, age, hospital region, income quartiles, race, ventilation status, coagulopathy, drowning, and APRDRG severity score and their outcomes were compared with controls. The sample data were weighted to get a national estimate.
RESULTS: Accidental hypothermia was present in 1,028 cases out of 1,915,435 discharges. Children with hypothermia were more likely to be males (54.7% vs 50.9%; p<0.05) and infants (32.6% vs 17.5%); they were less likely to be teens (30% vs 37.8%). Children with hypothermia were more likely to be admitted in the Southern region (48.3% vs 38.4%; p<0.05) and have a higher mortality rate compared to all other discharges (8.5% vs 0.3%; p<0.05) or when compared to the matched-controls (8.9% vs 4.4%).
CONCLUSIONS: The diagnosis of accidental hypothermia significantly increased mortality in hospitalized children. Interestingly, accidental hypothermia was more common in Southern states compared to the other areas of the US. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Prognostic/epidemiological study, level III.
Language: en |