Cross-sectional survey of hospital paediatric HIV/AIDS care in Catalonia, 1992. Hospital Contributors.
A cross-sectional survey to assess the impact of the paediatric HIV/AIDS epidemic on the hospital-based health care system was performed in state-financed hospitals in Catalonia during 1992, raising issues of relevance today. Out of the 27 hospitals contacted, 20 responded. A considerable proportion of the health care to children with an HIV-related condition was provided by four hospitals. The average length of stay of the 176 HIV patients who were admitted was 10.8 days; these patients were admitted to the hospital twice a year on average. Nearly half of the out-patients who attended with an HIV-related condition were either seropositive without a confirmed diagnosis of an HIV infection (class P-0) or seronegative. Thirteen per cent of the overall admissions to paediatric day care hospitals were attributable to an HIV-related condition. By ownership status of the hospitals, HIV/AIDS paediatric in-patients of public hospitals generated the majority of admissions per patient per year, and had the shortest lengths of stay. Unlike the HIV/AIDS epidemic in adults, the magnitude and characteristics of the epidemic in children may not require the shift of hospital-based health care to primary health care.
Miret
M
M
Centre d'Estudis Epidemiològics sobre la Sida a Catalunya (CEESCAT), Badalona, Spain.
Vall
M
M
Fortuny
C
C
Casabona
J
J
D000553:Ambulatory Care; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003631:Day Care, Medical; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007902:Length of Stay; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology