Empirical examination of the indicator ‘pediatric gastroenteritis hospitalization rate’ based on administrative hospital data in Italy

Table 1 Pediatric hospital admissions in Italy by primary diagnosis and age group (period 2009–11)

Age group	N	%^*	Average annual rate (per 1,000)	RR (95% CI)
*Non-bacterial gastroenteritis*
<1-year^†	13,492	3.5	7.99	24.2 (23.0–25.5)
1–4 years	32,735	6.0	4.79	14.5 (13.8–15.2)
5–9 years	8,959	2.4	1.06	3.2 (3.0–3.4)
10–14 years	4,216	1.2	0.50	1.5 (1.4–1.6)
15–17 years	1,728	0.7	0.33	Ref.
Total	61,130	3.3	1.99
*Bacterial gastroenteritis*
<1-year^‡	750	0.2	0.44	8.8 (7.5–10.4)
1–4 years	2,949	0.5	0.43	8.6 (7.4–9.9)
5–9 years	1,352	0.4	0.16	3.2 (2.9–4.0)
10–14 years	653	0.2	0.08	1.6 (1.5–2.0)
15–17 years	236	0.1	0.05	Ref.
Total	5,940	0.3	0.19
*Dehydration*
<1-year^§	6,047	1.6	3.58	59.7 (54.3–68.3)
1–4 years	23,389	4.3	3.42	57.0 (52.0–65.1)
5–9 years	6,646	1.8	0.78	13.0 (11.9–14.9)
10–14 years	2,430	0.7	0.29	4.8 (4.4–5.5)
15–17 years	308	0.1	0.06	Ref.
Total	38,820	2.1	1.27

^*Percentage over total pediatric hospitalizations in Italy (except Major Diagnostic Category codes 14 [pregnancy, childbirth and puerperium] and 15 [newborns and other neonates]).
^†In <1-year group, 2,425 children (18.0%) were aged less than 3 months.
^‡One hundred fifty-two children (20.3%) were aged less than 3 months.
^§Six hundred fifty-eight children (10.9%) were aged less than 3 months.
RR, relative risk; 95% CI, 95% confidence interval.
Data source: Ministry of Health.

ISSN: 1824-7288