Introduction In Germany, inpatient rehabilitation is a
well-established additive option in the therapeutic concept for children and
adolescents with diabetes. However, its contribution in pediatric diabetes
care is not known exactly. Our objective was to analyze inpatient
rehabilitation in pediatric diabetes over eight years in Germany.
Methods We requested secondary data from the German Statutory Pension
Insurance Scheme to evaluate all completed inpatient rehabilitations for
children and adolescents with diabetes (ICD-code E10-14) reimbursed by this
institution between 2006 and 2013. For each type of diabetes, we analyzed
the distribution of admissions by year, age-group, sex, nationality, and
other documented diagnoses. All analyses were conducted via remote computing
with IBM SPSS Version 24.
Results Between 2006 and 2013, 5,403 admissions to inpatient
rehabilitation for 4,746 children and adolescents with diabetes were
documented. For type 1 diabetes (T1D; 88.5% of admissions), the
number of yearly admissions increased from 458 in 2006 to 688 in 2013
(p=0.013), especially for age-group>5-10. The increase for
type 2 diabetes (T2D) was not significant. Admissions were more frequent for
girls (53.6%, p≤0.001), age>10-15 years
(42.8%, p=0.001), and German nationality (98.5%).
Obesity (T1D: 11.1%; T2D: 87.9%) and mental disorders (T1D:
11.6%; T2D: 27.4%) were the most frequent documented
diagnoses in addition to diabetes.
Conclusion This study provides a comprehensive overview of inpatient
rehabilitation for children and adolescents with diabetes over many years in
Germany. Until 2013, inpatient rehabilitation remained important in
pediatric diabetes care, especially for children with mental disorders or
obesity.