Christian Sadaka, MD: Significant Increase in Pediatric Gastroparesis Hospital Admissions After COVID-19

Research presented at the 2024 Annual North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition (NASPGHAN) Meeting in Hollywood, Florida, from November 7 to 9, 2024, demonstrated a significant increase in hospital admissions in children with gastroparesis after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The study, led by Christian Sadaka, MD, from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, sought to report the national trends for hospital admission of pediatric gastroparesis before and after COVID-19, as well as data on admission characteristics, length of stay, and factors affecting the increase in hospital stays. Leveraging January 2014 – September 2023 data from 42 pediatric hospitals, retrieved from the Pediatric Health Information System database, the study included 20293 pediatric gastroparesis admissions.

“Usually, a viral infection is a common etiology for gastroparesis—we have seen it very frequently—however, usually it's a milder form of gastroparesis, and in the literature, it says that it resolves within 6 weeks to 1 year,” Sadaka told HCPLive at the meeting. “With COVID, we're seeing more severe gastroparesis and even symptoms that have last longer. So, we have patients who've had gastroparesis after a COVID infection that are still to date.”

Sadaka and colleagues discovered a trend of increased annual admissions, peaking at 2497 admissions in 2022. Monthly admissions significantly increased from before the COVID-19 pandemic (161 admissions per month) to after February 2020 (194 admissions per month) (P = .002), with the greatest admission rate in the South (31.5%), followed by the Midwest (28.5%), West (22.3%), and Northeast (17.8%).

Throughout the 10 years, the mean length of hospital stays was 6 (IQR, 4 – 12) days, with no significant change between 2014 and 2023. Hospital durations varied across regions, with Northeast patients having the longest stays. A multivariate analysis discovered 4 factors linked to a longer length of stay: age (< 5 years), anxiety/depression/eating disorders, increased number of chronic comorbid conditions, and malnutrition.

“Knowing factors contributing to a lengthier stay can help them understand and manage and personalize the care more,” Sadaka said. “If you know that the patient has a certain complication, you can try to target it more. If you know that this patient will stay longer, you know how to care more for this patient. So, it will help direct their management in terms of what we hope to achieve one day, which is precision medicine.”

References

^{Sadaka, C, Xu, B, Benitez, A, et al. COVID-19 and Its Prolonged Effect in Shaping the Hospitalization of Patients with Gastroparesis. Presented at NASPHGAN 2024 in Hollywood, Florida, from November 7 – November 9, 2024.}