TY - JOUR
T1 - COVID-19-associated hospitalizations among children less than 12 years of age in the United States
AU - Di Fusco, Manuela
AU - Vaghela, Shailja
AU - Moran, Mary M.
AU - Lin, Jay
AU - Atwell, Jessica E.
AU - Malhotra, Deepa
AU - Scassellati Sforzolini, Thomas
AU - Cane, Alejandro
AU - Nguyen, Jennifer L.
AU - McGrath, Leah J.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Pfizer, Inc. Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Objectives: To describe the characteristics, healthcare resource use and costs associated with initial hospitalization and readmissions among pediatric patients with COVID-19 in the US. Methods: Hospitalized pediatric patients, 0–11 years of age, with a primary or secondary discharge diagnosis code for COVID-19 (ICD-10 code U07.1) were selected from 1 April 2020 to 30 September 2021 in the US Premier Healthcare Database Special Release (PHD SR). Patient characteristics, hospital length of stay (LOS), in-hospital mortality, hospital costs, hospital charges, and COVID-19-associated readmission outcomes were evaluated and stratified by age groups (0–4, 5–11), four COVID-19 disease progression states based on intensive care unit (ICU) and invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) usage, and three sequential calendar periods. Sensitivity analyses were performed using the US HealthVerity claims database and restricting the analyses to the primary discharge code. Results: Among 4,573 hospitalized pediatric patients aged 0–11 years, 68.0% were 0–4 years and 32.0% were 5–11 years, with a mean (median) age of 3.2 (1) years; 56.0% were male, and 67.2% were covered by Medicaid. Among the overall study population, 25.7% had immunocompromised condition(s), 23.1% were admitted to the ICU and 7.3% received IMV. The mean (median) hospital LOS was 4.3 (2) days, hospital costs and charges were $14,760 ($6,164) and $58,418 ($21,622), respectively; in-hospital mortality was 0.5%. LOS, costs, charges, and in-hospital mortality increased with ICU admission and/or IMV usage. In total, 2.1% had a COVID-19-associated readmission. Study outcomes appeared relatively more frequent and/or higher among those 5–11 than those 0–4. Results using the HealthVerity data source were generally consistent with main analyses. Limitations: This retrospective administrative database analysis relied on coding accuracy and inpatient admissions with validated hospital costs. Conclusions: These findings underscore that children aged 0–11 years can experience severe COVID-19 illness requiring hospitalization and substantial hospital resource use, further supporting recommendations for COVID-19 vaccination.
AB - Objectives: To describe the characteristics, healthcare resource use and costs associated with initial hospitalization and readmissions among pediatric patients with COVID-19 in the US. Methods: Hospitalized pediatric patients, 0–11 years of age, with a primary or secondary discharge diagnosis code for COVID-19 (ICD-10 code U07.1) were selected from 1 April 2020 to 30 September 2021 in the US Premier Healthcare Database Special Release (PHD SR). Patient characteristics, hospital length of stay (LOS), in-hospital mortality, hospital costs, hospital charges, and COVID-19-associated readmission outcomes were evaluated and stratified by age groups (0–4, 5–11), four COVID-19 disease progression states based on intensive care unit (ICU) and invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) usage, and three sequential calendar periods. Sensitivity analyses were performed using the US HealthVerity claims database and restricting the analyses to the primary discharge code. Results: Among 4,573 hospitalized pediatric patients aged 0–11 years, 68.0% were 0–4 years and 32.0% were 5–11 years, with a mean (median) age of 3.2 (1) years; 56.0% were male, and 67.2% were covered by Medicaid. Among the overall study population, 25.7% had immunocompromised condition(s), 23.1% were admitted to the ICU and 7.3% received IMV. The mean (median) hospital LOS was 4.3 (2) days, hospital costs and charges were $14,760 ($6,164) and $58,418 ($21,622), respectively; in-hospital mortality was 0.5%. LOS, costs, charges, and in-hospital mortality increased with ICU admission and/or IMV usage. In total, 2.1% had a COVID-19-associated readmission. Study outcomes appeared relatively more frequent and/or higher among those 5–11 than those 0–4. Results using the HealthVerity data source were generally consistent with main analyses. Limitations: This retrospective administrative database analysis relied on coding accuracy and inpatient admissions with validated hospital costs. Conclusions: These findings underscore that children aged 0–11 years can experience severe COVID-19 illness requiring hospitalization and substantial hospital resource use, further supporting recommendations for COVID-19 vaccination.
KW - COVID-19-associated hospitalization
KW - children
KW - hospital costs
KW - hospital resource use
KW - in-hospital mortality
KW - pediatric population
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U2 - 10.1080/13696998.2022.2046401
DO - 10.1080/13696998.2022.2046401
M3 - Article
C2 - 35293285
AN - SCOPUS:85126698001
SN - 1369-6998
VL - 25
SP - 334
EP - 346
JO - Journal of Medical Economics
JF - Journal of Medical Economics
IS - 1
ER -