Accessibility Cookies Privacy notice GDPR
Select topic
Population Health Housing and accommodation Employment and Education Family Other topics
Select local authority
Aberdeen City Aberdeenshire Angus Argyll and Bute City of Edinburgh Clackmannanshire Comhairle nan Eilean Siar Dumfries and Galloway Dundee East Ayrshire East Dunbartonshire East Lothian East Renfrewshire Falkirk Fife Glasgow City Highland Inverclyde Midlothian Moray North Ayrshire North Lanarkshire Orkney Islands Perth and Kinross Renfrewshire Scottish Borders Shetland Islands South Ayrshire South Lanarkshire Stirling West Dunbartonshire West Lothian
Select health board
Ayrshire and Arran Borders Dumfries and Galloway Fife Forth Valley Grampian Greater Glasgow and Clyde Highland Lanarkshire Lothian Orkney Shetland Tayside Western Isles
Home / Our research / Determinants of health and inequalities research / Children and young people's health / Down syndrome survival and hospitalisation rates

Down syndrome survival and hospitalisation rates

Aim

To describe survival and patterns of hospitalisation for children and young people with Down syndrome in Scotland over a 25 year period.

What we did

All four Scottish regional cytogenetic laboratories identified live-births of individuals with Down syndrome born 1990-2015. They were each age-gender-deprivation matched with 5 general population (non- Down syndrome) controls, using Scotland’s unique NHS identifier system (CHI). Individuals were linked to routinely collected hospital statistics data (Scottish Morbidity Records 01), and also to National Records of Scotland data on deaths.

What we found

1,458 people were identified with Down syndrome, 689 females (47.3%) and 769 males (52.7%). 1,162 (78.5%) with Down syndrome had been admitted to hospital at least once, compared to 3,362 (52.1%) controls. Average hospital stay was 3.5 days for people with Down syndrome and 1.6 days for controls. In total, 96 (6.6%) people with Down syndrome died during the study period compared to 23 (0.4%) people without Down syndrome. This data is currently being further analysed.

What these findings mean

Children and young people with Down syndrome are at high risk of experiencing hospitalisation, highlighting need for family support. Our findings will provide current data on survival trends and access to health service care for children and young people with Down syndrome.

Link to publication https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/10/4/e033770

Page updated 6 October 2020

Easy read version

View other information

Psychotropic prescribing to children and young people Hospital admission rates for children and young people with learning disabilities Physical and mental health of young people with learning disabilities The impact of bullying on the mental health of children and adolescents Prevalence and incidence of mental health conditions Associations between child behaviour problems, father-child relationships and father mental health