Patterns of diagnoses among children and young adults with life-limiting conditions: A secondary analysis of a national dataset

Background: Numbers of children and young people with life-limiting conditions are rising, and increasing lifespans require young adults with life-limiting condition to transit to appropriate adult services. Aim: To describe the prevalence of life-limiting condition in children and young adults by age, sex, diagnostic group, ethnicity and deprivation. Design: A secondary analysis of the English Hospital Episode Statistics dataset was undertaken to calculate prevalence per 10,000 population. Setting/participants: Individuals (0–40 years) with life-limiting conditions were identified within an English Hospital Episode Statistics dataset by applying a customised coding framework of International Classification of Diseases, 10th Edition, disease codes. Results: There were 462,962 inpatient hospital admissions for 92,129 individual patients with a life-limiting condition. Prevalence-by-age group curve is U shaped with the highest overall prevalence in the under 1-year age group (127.3 per 10,000), decreasing until age 21–25 years (21.1 per 10,000) before rising steeply to reach 55.5 per 10,000 in the 36–40 -year age group. The distribution by diagnostic group varies by age: congenital anomalies are most prevalent in children until age 16–20 years with oncology diagnoses then becoming the most prevalent. Conclusion: Non-malignant diagnoses are common in children and young adults, and services that have historically focussed on oncological care will need to widen their remit to serve this population of life-limited patients. The diagnosis determining a patient’s life-limiting condition will strongly influence their palliative care service needs. Therefore, understanding the diagnostic and demographic breakdown of this population of teenagers and young adults is crucial for planning future service provision.