Increasing diagnoses per patient admission at a specialist children’s hospital: A retrospective study
Over recent decades, the recorded complexity of patients attending a specialist children's hospital appear to have increased significantly, with an almost 3-fold increase in the number of coexisting diagnoses present per admission. The cause of this finding cannot be determined from the data; however, it appears to be gradual and consistent, and across all speciality areas suggesting biological or referral factors rather than artefactual coding issues. Recognition of such a trend is important when interpreting retrospective data for AI, research, and planning purposes.
Authors
- Stuart A Bowyer
- Daniel Key (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9559-1784)
- Eleni Pissaridou
- Neil J. Sebire (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5348-9063)
- John Booth (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4357-1324)
- William Bryant (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2135-0662)
- Harry Hemingway (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2279-0624)
Institutions
- Great Ormond Street Hospital (GB)
- UCL Biomedical Research Centre (GB)
- Health Data Research UK (GB)
- University College London (GB)
- Imperial College London (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- PLoS ONE
- Published
- 2025-05-06
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0322997
- Primary Topic
- Medical Coding and Health Information
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity
- NIHR Great Ormond Street Hospital Biomedical Research Centre