Neuropaediatric care in the Hospital General Universitario de Guadalajara

• Published in: Revista de neurologiá Vol. 39; no. 9; pp. 816 - 820
• Main Authors: Peña-Segura, J L, López-Pisón, J, Marco-Olloqui, M, Mateos-Hernández, J, Adrados-Razola, I, Jiménez-Bustos, J M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Spanish
• Published: Spain 01-11-2004
• Subjects: Child; Child, Preschool; Female; Health Services Accessibility; Health Services Needs and Demand; Hospital Departments - utilization; Hospitals - utilization; Humans; Infant; Male; Mexico; Neurology; Pediatrics; Referral and Consultation; Retrospective Studies; Mexico
• ISSN: 0210-0010
• DOI: 10.33588/rn.3909.2003519

Influenced by medical, scientific and social advances, the changes that have taken place in the needs of the population have given rise to a growing demand for health care in neuropaediatric pathology. The aim of this study was to determine the neuropaediatric health care requirements at the Hospital General Universitario de Guadalajara, a secondary care hospital that is a reference centre for the province of Guadalajara.
We studied the children up to the age of 10 years with a neurological pathology attended at the Hospital General Universitario de Guadalajara over an 8-year period, since the Neuropaediatric unit was opened on 1 July 1992.
In all 1,236 children were evaluated, which represents 8.45% of all the children below the age of 10 in the province of Guadalajara, with an average of 154.5 new patients per year. There was a predominance of males, 56.4%, and a high percentage of very young children: 26.05% under the age of 1 year and 50.56% under the age of 3. There has been a progressive increase in the number of Neuropaediatric outpatients, which in the year 2000 accounted for 20% of first visits and 16% of the total number (first and successive) of Paediatric outpatients. 12.94% of the patients in our series had also been examined in different tertiary care hospitals.
There is a very high demand for neuropaediatric care in Guadalajara and it is growing in a significant and progressive manner. We suggest it would be advisable to have a tertiary reference hospital available to help cope with this situation.