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 / Hospital admission rates for children and young people with learning disabilities

Hospital admission rates for children and young people with learning disabilities

Background

Children and young people with learning disabilities have higher rates of physical health conditions compared with other children. Increased hospital admissions for conditions which are ambulatory care sensitive is indicative of poor management in primary care. This cohort study aims to investigate the frequency and duration of hospital admissions and the most common conditions for children and young people with learning disabilities.

What we did

Scotland’s annual Pupil Census covers all publicly funded primary, secondary and special schools in Scotland. A national cohort of children and young people with learning disabilities was established using data from Pupil Census records 2008 up to 2013. To investigate hospital admission rates across Scotland, we linked this data to the Scottish Morbidity Register up to 2015, which identifies all acute hospital admissions including both planned and emergency admissions. Prospective emergency admissions as well as planned admissions to hospital were identified. Cox proportional hazards models were used to investigate the risk of prospective admission for pupils with versus without learning disabilities.

What we found

18,278 pupils with learning disabilities were identified in the Pupil Census along with 777,912 pupils without learning disabilities. 17,051 total admissions were recorded for 5,089 pupils with learning disabilities (28%), compared to 277,012 admissions for 157,565 (20%) of controls. 15% of pupils with learning disabilities had emergency admissions versus 12% of controls. Further data analysis is ongoing. On completion, descriptive statistics for age, frequency and duration of hospital stay, as well as most common conditions, and hazard ratios for the risk of admission will be reported. Results for both emergency and planned admissions will be included.

What this means

The evidence from this study will increase understanding of the rates of hospital admissions including for conditions which are managed in the community. Results will enable policy makers and practitioners to improve clinical practice in order to reduce avoidable hospital admissions, and provide targeted areas for management outside of an acute care setting.

To find out more about this research, contact us at sldo-info@glasgow.ac.uk

This page was updated on 9th September 2020

View other information

Psychotropic prescribing to children and young people Down syndrome survival and hospitalisation rates 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