Hospitalization

In 2009, there were over 3.1 million hospital discharges among people aged 1‒21 years, equaling 3.6 hospital discharges per 100 children, adolescents and young adults. While injuries are the leading cause of death among this age group, they were not the most common cause of hospitalization. In 2009, diseases of the respiratory system, including asthma and pneumonia, were the most common causes of hospitalization among children aged 1‒4 and 5‒9 years. Among children aged 1-4 years, diseases of the respiratory system accounted for nearly 40 percent of discharges; the same was true for about one-quarter of 5-9 year-olds. Mental disorders were the most common cause of hospitalization among children aged 10‒14 years (22.5 percent of discharges) and the second most common cause among adolescents aged 15-19 years (15.7 percent of discharges) and young adults aged 20‒21 years (8.4 percent). Among adolescents aged 15-19 years and young adults aged 20‒21 years, labor and delivery (among females) was the most common cause of hospitalization resulting 49.6 and 62.3 percent of discharges, respectively.

Between 1990 and 2009, overall hospital discharge rates for children aged 1-14 years did not change significantly. However, there was a change in the rates for some of the most common individual categories of discharges: the rate of discharges for diseases of the respiratory system increased by 19.6 percent between 1990 and 2009, while discharges related to injury and poisoning decreased by 31.5 percent during the same period.

This image is described in the Data section.