title: Has clinical activity in paediatric neurology changed in the past 11 years?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  We believe that the demand for paediatric neurology (PN) care has increased over the past decade, and that reasons for requesting consultations have also changed. The objective of this study is to complete a registry study to profile the demand for PN care in 2013 and compare results to those from a study performed in 2002.
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective registry of PN healthcare activities was completed at Hospital Universitario de Getafe in 2013. Results were compared with those from a prospective registry study conducted in 2002.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The number of visits increased from 1,300 in 2002 to 1,982 in 2013 (a 52.46% increase), and from 32.6 visits per 1,000 children to 57.48 (a 76.32% increase). Outpatient consultations accounted for 92.2% of all PN consultations in 2013. Currently, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most frequent diagnosis (27.6% in 2013 vs. 8.1% in 2002). Although the percentage of headache consultations has decreased (19% in 2013 vs. 22% in 2002), headache was still the most common reason for an initial visit in 2013 (32.1%), followed by ADHD (19.1%). Epilepsy remains the most frequent diagnosis in hospitalised patients (30.3% in 2013 vs. 36.7% in 2002).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PN is fundamentally an outpatient activity that has increased considerably in recent years. This increase is mainly due to neurodevelopmental disorders, especially ADHD. We might state that the role of ADHD in PN is comparable to that of dementia in general neurology.
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Neurología Pediátrica, Sección de Neurología, Hospital Universitario de Getafe, Getafe, Madrid, España. Electronic address: bmmenendez@salud.madrid.org.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Martínez Menéndez
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Neurología Pediátrica, Sección de Neurología, Hospital Universitario de Getafe, Getafe, Madrid, España.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Escolar Escamilla
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Neurología Pediátrica, Sección de Neurología, Hospital Universitario de Getafe, Getafe, Madrid, España.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pinel González
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Neurología Pediátrica, Sección de Neurología, Hospital Universitario de Getafe, Getafe, Madrid, España.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cerezo García
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Neurología Pediátrica, Sección de Neurología, Hospital Universitario de Getafe, Getafe, Madrid, España.
authors.forename: F J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Martínez Sarries
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Neurología Pediátrica, Sección de Neurología, Hospital Universitario de Getafe, Getafe, Madrid, España.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Morlán Gracia
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006261:Headache / Q000175:diagnosis; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009462:Neurology; D010372:Pediatrics; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012042:Registries
keywords: ADHD; Actividad asistencial; Child neurology; Gestión sanitaria; Healthcare administration; Medical care; Neurodesarrollo; Neurodevelopment; Neurología infantil; Neurología pediátrica; Paediatric neurology; TDAH