Table 2

Medical characteristics of subjects

Percentage (%) (n = 100)

95% CI

Most frequent diagnostic categories *

Neoplasm and chemotherapy

15

9 – 24

Respiratory infections

9

4 – 16

Asthma

5

2 – 11

Gastroenteritis

5

2 – 11

Appendicitis

4

1 – 10

Epilepsy or seizure

3

0.6 – 9

Malfunctioning device or graft

3

0.6 – 9

Length of stay

1 day

10

5 – 18

2 days

25

17 – 35

3 days

24

16 – 34

4–7 days

27

17 – 37

8 to 103 days

14

8 – 22

Devices *

Gastrostomy or jejuenostomy tubes

10

5 – 18

Central venous line

7

3 – 14

Medication nebulizer

7

3 – 14

Ventriculoperitoneal shunt

2

0.2 – 7

Tracheotomy

1

0.03 – 5

Number of medications §

0

18

11 – 27

1

20

13 – 29

2

26

18 – 36

3

16

10 – 26

4

7

3 – 14

5 or more

12

6 – 20

Number of daily medication administrations noted ‡

0 or PRN

33

24 – 44

1–4

30

21 – 40

5–9

24

16 – 34

10–22

12

6 – 20

Home nursing care

8

4 – 15

Other forms of home care

7

3 – 14

Disposition

Home

91

84 – 96

Transfer

3

0.6 – 9

Death

1

0.03 – 6

Unknown

5

2 – 11

* For the categories of diagnoses and devices, a given subject could be counted multiple times if noted to have had multiple diagnoses or devices. §Medications were counted as those medications ordered at the time of discharge from the hospital; accordingly, the one case that died is omitted so that n = 99 for this variable as well as "number of daily medication administrations". ‡ Number of daily medication administrations is a count of the number of times any medication dose is delivered in a day, so that a count of 10 could indicate 2 medications given 5 times a day, or 10 medications each given once.

Feudtner et al. BMC Pediatrics 2005 5:8   doi:10.1186/1471-2431-5-8