Infant and toddler disease score was useful for risk of hospitalization based on data from administrative claims.
OBJECTIVE
To develop the infant and toddler disease score (IDS), a population-based predictive tool of morbidity status in infants and toddlers, based on data from administrative claims.


METHODS
A prospective cohort study was conducted, including 35,580 children less than 2 years of age in June 2003 from the French "ERASME" database (mean follow-up 13 months). The outcome variable was incident hospitalization during the follow-up year, that is, before the second birthday for infants and before the third for toddlers. Risk factors before inclusion (age, health care use, medications) were assessed in a 50% random sample (construction sample) by a logistic regression model. Beta coefficients were summed up to obtain the IDS. The IDS was then validated for the remaining 50% of the study population (validation sample).


RESULTS
The major variables significantly associated with the outcome were long-term disability, younger age, and >or=1 hospitalization before inclusion. The risks of hospitalization estimated by the IDS were concordant in the construction and validation samples.


CONCLUSIONS
The IDS is a useful index for the risk of hospitalization of infants and toddlers in relation to their morbidity status and may be used for adjustment in pharmacoepidemiologic studies using administrative claims databases.
Mikaeloff
Yann
Y
INSERM, UMR S149, Paris, France. yann.mikaeloff@bct.aphp.fr
Moride
Yola
Y
Khoshnood
Babak
B
Weill
Alain
A
Bréart
Gérard
G
D000367:Age Factors; D016208:Databases, Factual; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007348:Insurance, Health; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D009017:Morbidity; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index