The burden of chronic disease in adolescent's hospitalizations

Abstract

The growing prevalence of chronic disease during adolescence urges health services to adapt. We did a retrospective characterization of adolescent's hospitalizations in a second-level hospital during five years. We examined adolescent's most relevant clinical information and the hospital resources used for their admission. We also explored how chronic disease influences data collection.There were 1018 hospitalizations of adolescents in the pediatric ward during this period with longer length of stay and regular need of hospital resources. Chronic patients represented almost 60% of adolescents' hospitalizations and, among these, more than two-thirds were related to their chronic disease. This emphasizes the urgency for policy making concerning control optimization of such diseases as well as improving facilities to become more youth-friendly.