Pediatric Hospitalizations from Immigration Detention in Texas, 2015-2018

Joseph Nwadiuko; Karla Fredricks; Sarah Polk; Sural Shah; Judith A Long; Chanelle Diaz; Nandita Mitra; Katherine Yun

doi:10.1016/j.jpeds.2021.12.056

Pediatric Hospitalizations from Immigration Detention in Texas, 2015-2018

J Pediatr. 2022 May:244:212-214. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2021.12.056. Epub 2021 Dec 28.

Authors

Joseph Nwadiuko¹, Karla Fredricks², Sarah Polk³, Sural Shah⁴, Judith A Long⁵, Chanelle Diaz⁶, Nandita Mitra⁷, Katherine Yun⁸

Affiliations

¹ Division of General Internal Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; Department of Health Policy and Management, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, CA. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Department of Pediatrics, Section of Global and Immigrant Health, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX.
³ Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD.
⁴ Division of Internal Medicine-Pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA; Department of Medicine, Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA.
⁵ Division of General Internal Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion, Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA.
⁶ Division of General Internal Medicine, Montefiore Health System and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY.
⁷ Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Informatics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
⁸ Division of General Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA; University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA.

PMID: 34971657
DOI: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2021.12.056

Abstract

Although there are concerns regarding children's health in immigration detention, there are little data regarding hospitalizations in this population. Using 2015-2018 Texas inpatient data, we identified 95 hospitalizations of children in detention and found that most (60%) were driven by infectious causes, and that 37% of these children were admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) or intermediate ICU.

Keywords: health services research; healthcare in incarceration; immigrant health; international health.

Publication types

Case Reports
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Child
Emigration and Immigration*
Hospitalization*
Humans
Intensive Care Units
Texas / epidemiology