TY - JOUR T1 - Pediatric chronic patients at outpatient clinics: a study in a Latin American University Hospital JO - Jornal de Pediatria (English Edition) T2 - AU - Alveno,Renata A. AU - Miranda,Caroline V. AU - Passone,Caroline G. AU - Waetge,Aurora R. AU - Hojo,Elza S. AU - Farhat,Sylvia C.L. AU - Odone-Filho,Vicente AU - Tannuri,Uenis AU - Carvalho,Werther B. AU - Carneiro-Sampaio,Magda AU - Silva,Clovis A. SN - 00217557 M3 - 10.1016/j.jped.2017.07.014 DO - 10.1016/j.jped.2017.07.014 UR - https://jped.elsevier.es/en-pediatric-chronic-patients-at-outpatient-articulo-S0021755717302267 AB - ObjectiveTo describe the characteristics of children and adolescentes with chronic diseases of outpatient clinics at a tertiary university hospital. MethodsA cross-sectional study was performed with 16,237 patients with chronic diseases followed-up in one year. The data were collected through the electronic system, according to the number of physician appointments in 23 pediatric specialties. Patients were divided in two groups: children (0–9 years) and adolescents (10–19 years). Early (10–14 years) and late (15–19 years) adolescent groups were also analyzed. ResultsOf the total sample, 56% were children and 46% were adolescents. The frequencies of following pediatric specialties were significantly higher in adolescents when compared with children: cardiology, endocrinology, hematology, nephrology/renal transplantation, neurology, nutrology, oncology, palliative and pain care, psychiatry, and rheumatology (p<0.05). The frequencies of emergency service visits (30% vs. 17%, p<0.001), hospitalizations (23% vs. 11%, p<0.001), intensive care unit admissions (6% vs. 2%, p<0.001), and deaths (1% vs. 0.6%, p=0.002) were significantly lower in adolescents than in children. However, the number of physician appointments (≥13) per patient was also higher in the adolescent group (5% vs. 6%, p=0.018). Further analysis comparison between early and late adolescents revealed that the first group had significantly more physician appointments (35% vs. 32%, p=0.025), and required more than two pediatric specialties (22% vs. 21%, p=0.047). Likewise, the frequencies of emergency service visits (19% vs. 14%, p<0.001) and hospitalizations (12% vs. 10%, p=0.035) were higher in early adolescents. ConclusionsThis study evaluated a large population in a Latin American hospital and suggested that early adolescents with chronic diseases required many appointments, multiple specialties and hospital admissions. ER -