Length of preschool hospitalization, multiple admissions and later educational attainment and behaviour

Abstract

Differences in educational performance and behaviour at age 10 years between 2900 hospitalized and 11,000 non-hospitalized children in the 1970 British Births Cohort were described previously. In the present analysis associations were found between the length of time children spent in hospital before the age of 5 years and performance on vocabulary tests at age 5 and age 10. Children whose first admission occurred between 2 and 5 years of age were particularly likely to show this association. There was also a relationship between the length of preschool hospitalization and reading and mathematics attainment at age 10. It was the number of times a child was admitted to hospital before the age of 5, rather than the length of stay, which was associated with antisocial and anxious behaviour at age 5. The association was evident when the first admission occurred between 2 and 5 years of age and not before age 2. There was no association with such behaviour at age 10 once social and family factors and readmission between ages 5 and 10 were taken into account. There was a strong association between admission between ages 5 and 10 and behaviour scores at age 10. The results are interpreted as providing evidence for a need to develop the hospital educational service to ameliorate these associations and to review schemes which reduce the anxiety-provoking aspects of hospitalization for young children.

Health problems in children with Down's syndrome

“…One possibility is that this relationship may be mediated by aspects of the intervention undertaken with this group. Further analysis of the current data replicated that of Douglas (1975) and Haslam (1988), who both found significant relationships between earlier hospitalization and behaviour problems scores for nonhandicapped children, using comparisons between children scoring in the highest 15% on a behaviour problems index and others. In the present study, no relationship was found between this categorization and hospitalization frequency, duration, age of the child at the time, or whether the mother stayed with the child.…”

Functional Outcomes and Physical Impairments in Pediatric Critical Care Survivors: A Scoping Review*

“…A necessary step in PICU survivor assessment is defining functional impairment unique to the pediatric critical illness population. Attention to development should be emphasized as hospitalization has been shown to affect behavior in children, particularly in those 2-5 years olds (79,80). Recent expanded definitions of "function" in children look beyond that of biologic, psychologic, and social aspects to include contextual factors, such as caregiver assistance and environmental support because of their influence on child functioning (81,82).…”

Parental and professional perception of need for emergency admission to hospital: prospective questionnaire based study

“…These must be balanced against the cost to the parent of care at home in terms of anxiety (especially out of hours) and potential adverse clinical outcome. Although studies in the 1960s found that a hospital stay could have adverse psychological and behavioural effects on children and their families,14 there is little recent evidence. Improved conditions within hospitals with greater involvement of the parents, availability of children’s wards, and specialist staff are likely to have minimised the negative psychological impact of admission to hospital.…”