Adolescent transition and admission rates

What happens to our adolescent patients when they leave our care? At least in the UK, the suspicion is that the care they receive from adult services is not as good. Most of the evidence for this has come from disease-specific or subjective qualitative studies. A cross-sectional study using universal standard hospital episode statistics from NHS England gives some more objective support for this view (Wijlaars L et al. BMJ Open. doi.org/10. 1136/bmjopen- 2017–0 21 015). The authors analysed all of the over a million admissions to hospitals in England, involving over 760 000 young people aged 10–24 years, between 2009 and 2011. They compared those aged 10–15 years with 19–24 year-olds, that is, unequivocally pre and post transition. In England, transition occurs between 16 and 18 years. Both age groups were subdivided into those with and without what they termed ‘long-term conditions’ (LTCs).

The emergency admission rates (excluding pregnancy-related) were significantly...

from Archives of Disease in Childhood current issue https://ift.tt/2NU3RQh