Original ArticleVariation Over Time in Medical Conditions and Health Service Utilization of Children with Down Syndrome
Section snippets
Methods
Using the same population data source (formerly Disability Services Commission and now the Intellectual Disability Exploring Answers [IDEA] database16) as the sampling frame, questionnaires have been administered to Western Australian families of children with Down syndrome in 1997 and 2004 (Figure).17, 18 In 1997, the study was restricted to school-aged children and included birth years 1980 to 1991 but in 2004 was extended to include birth years 1980 to 2004. Response fractions for the two
Results
The characteristics of the 1997 cohort have previously been described in detail.17 The mean age of the 2004 study subjects was 11.7 years (range, 5.02 to 17.98); there were 90 females and 118 males.
Discussion
We aimed to compare the prevalences of medical conditions and rates of episodic illness in children with Down syndrome in 1997 and 2004 to identify any variation in health status over time. In addition, the study investigated whether there were any changes in health care utilization that might have related to improved health status or changes in availability of services. We found a significant reduction in ongoing cardiac conditions, and bowel and thyroid conditions were reported to be
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Cited by (0)
Supported by the National Institutes of Health (grant 5R01HD043100-05). The authors declare no conflicts of interest.